Survivor's Resolve
by DC111
Summary: Sonic is in danger, Knuckles has changed, and Tails is left with battle on his shoulders. Citizens of Station Square are disappearing, held in a dark tower. Fortunately - and unfortunately - it turns out all of these problems are intertwined, with Eggman at the root and Sonic caught in the vines. But the blue blur has no intentions of playing along. COMPLETE! Thanks for 75k hits!
1. Prologue

_Sonic and friends find themselves in the midst of a predicament that is invisibly spiraling out of control - to Eggman's advantage. Now the doctor's success depends on his usage of Chaos energy, an area Sonic happens to be quite experienced in. But the blue blur has no intentions of playing along._

_Tails wants more than anything to help his best friend and brother but circumstances get in the way, and he finds himself working with an unlikely ally: Espio. Meanwhile, Knuckles, for the only time any of them can remember, has something to hide. The normally honest Master Emerald guardian is reluctant to associate with any of them… but it's not without reason._

_Fortunately - and unfortunately - it turns out all of their problems are intertwined in some kind of chaotic tree, with Eggman at the root and Sonic caught in the vines._

_Knuckles has changed. Tails is suddenly carrying the world on his shoulders. Sonic is forced to face the darkest kind of adversary. And everyone is about to discover that it takes something more than skills or smarts to win against the unfathomable._

**SURVIVOR'S RESOLVE**

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><p><span>Disclaimer: All Sonic characters (c) Sega and Sonic Team.<span>

**WARNING: story contains sustained threat and possible frightening scenes. If you are bothered at any point, for your own comfort please **_**stop reading **_**or skip ahead.**

Current cover by _LightningChaos2010_ on deviantart.**  
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><p>PROLOGUE<p>

xxx

_As the clouds dissipated and gave way to moonlight, he watched his blue reflection look up at him from beneath the shimmering water, standing his ground while the waves licked the tips of his shoes._

xxx

Sonic's arms were held tightly behind his back, his comfort level hovering somewhere over the indistinct line between pressure and pain.

Two Robotnik Corporation androids served as his opponents. They had forced him to his knees, sand caking into the blue fur there. He might have been able to push himself to his feet, but it would go against the position his arms were in and likely result in injury rather than escape, so he remained where he was. He was a thrill seeker, not a masochist.

He was not exactly patient, either, so the idea of waiting was not the most intriguing one in the world. Still, there was no immediate danger, so it was a better tactic to wait for an opportunity. Opportunities in battle were scarce and brief, but he knew he had the reflexes to take advantage of them.

Very rarely did he find himself unable to fight back, and the sudden lack of action interrupted the wild adrenaline rush that served as his fuel in battle. They had rendered him defenseless. They had taken what could have been an exciting battle, and brought it to a standstill. He liked to think it was because he was too intimidating for them while free.

But what came next? Where could they go from here? Nothing was happening. He and the androids were doing little more than existing. _Something _had to happen. One of them would attempt to disable him now, do something to prevent him from being able to fight back. He would be ready. He would break its grasp as soon as it withdrew a hand to strike.

A figure in the distance interrupted his mental scenarios, demanding his gaze. It was a familiar face, though he hadn't quite expected it _yet._

Sonic had made quite a few enemies in his life, but to the day, not one of them could match the intense opposition of the one currently staring him down from fifty feet away. Though he loved the challenge infused in his life because of his greatest adversary, he detested the man himself.

That man, an ambitious but arguably crazy doctor of science, was Ivo Robotnik.

Known best by his nickname of Eggman, he began to approach the scene now, carelessly stepping on a wristband communicator on the ground as he did. His large stomach filled out his form-fitting black outfit and the bright red coat he wore over it. One end of his long mustache was pinched casually between a finger and a thumb. Any emotion in his eyes was hidden by the reflective blue sunglasses covering them, fitting his face perfectly as if he had crafted the spectacles himself.

"Sonic the hedgehog," he said, examining his catch. "I did not expect I would get an opportunity to see you again so soon. After what happened on Space Colony ARK a little over a month ago, one would think you'd be more careful."

The addressed met his eyes with confident composure and a relaxed chuckle. "All things considering, I could say the same to you."

Eggman looked like he might be offended, but then returned the comment with a dark chuckle of his own. "Wait until you see what I've been working on," he said, his tone one of mocking glee. "I did a good job of not spoiling the surprise this time."

"Seeing as how you're pretty predictable, I'm thinking I'll have to see it myself to know if it manages to qualify as surprising."

"Seeing as how you've already been immobilized by my subordinates, I'll gladly have you escorted there so you can do just that. I'll even let you stay a while!"

Sonic merely shook his head, thick quills swinging back and forth with the motion, looking unimpressed. "Hey, bring it, don't sing it. Like I said, I'd just _love_ to see the place, but I'd prefer to go on my own terms."

"What, so you can destroy it? Is that what you think you're going to do?" The scientist enjoyed a brief bout of amused laughter, then crossed his arms and looked at him with condescending superiority. It was during that moment when the hedgehog realized his escape would not likely be facilitated, even on accident. "Sonic, my dearest rodent, I dare say it will destroy you first."

xxx

"_All right, Eggman… let's get this party started." –Sonic Heroes_

xxx

A/N (excuse the length): Well, for starters, happy 20th, Sonic the hedgehog! :D Perfect timing for me to post this. Prologues are of course just a little taste of everything. The best is yet to come.

I am putting my heart and soul into this story, so if you read, I'd be thrilled if you'd review too! :) Comments or critiques, whether praising or critical, are the best gifts an author can get. Y' know, authors can't take all the credit for they write… sometimes things just come to them. That's what happening to me as I type this story (I'm already pretty far into it), and I feel like I'm not even the author, I'm just 'experiencing' it… just like you all are when you read it. It's pulled me in… I hope it'll pull you in too! :D

Quite a few other characters have very significant roles (think of it like the Adventure series) like Tails, Knuckles, Espio, and Eggman. It's a story about everyone, but in the same breath, it's about Sonic… and it'll be as true to character as it can possibly be.

This is typed as part of the games continuity, taking place a month or so after Sonic Adventure 2.

Also, considering this coincides with Sonic's 20th, there'll be a quote from the games to go with every chapter, like the one above. Most of them'll probably be a bit more subtle than that one, though. ;)

xxx

_In Chapter 1… Sonic and Tails rendezvous after a few weeks' respite, and Sonic reveals some thoughts about the battle on Space Colony ARK. The two friends make an unexpected discovery in a pond, and Tails makes an unexpected discovery about his surrogate older brother…_

Don't forget to comment and/or add to story alerts. :) See you next time! Keep in mind this is just the prologue, so give the actual story a chance. ;) Lots more character interactions and plot to come.


	2. Chapter 1: Intermission

A/N: Survivor's Resolve has changed a lot since its conception. I was just telling a friend recently how I'm glad I let this story sit for a few years. It gave me time to sort things out and decide where I really wanted to go with it, and I typed a large handful of scenes that probably would not have been conceived if I was rushing through it. Now hopefully I can continue to stay ahead of the game since I've started uploading it. So far, so good!

Responding to anonymous reviewers here since that's the only way I can reach you guys.  
>Tara the Bat: Thanks, glad to hear you're looking forward to it. :)<br>The Meddler: You probably won't see this yet either, but thanks! Ironic how life always works out that way... have a good time.

And so our story begins…

Enjoy. :)

CHAPTER 1: INTERMISSION

Miles Prower's eager face was hovering above the complex control panel of the Tornado 2. "Stay, stay, stay…" he said under his breath, fists clenched in hopeful anxiety as the blue and yellow biplane continued its steady ascent. For several tense seconds, the engine sputtered and moaned, then at last it seemed to right itself. "Yes!" Tails shouted triumphantly. The obnoxious noises settled down to an aurally tolerable hum.

In the back passenger seat, Sonic's lungs relaxed, releasing his sigh of relief into the wind. "Always a good idea to bring along a passenger who _can't fly _when you're in an experimental mood."

"Oh, you'd survive," Tails said with a swish of his hand.

"Yeah," the blue blur snorted, "mostly because I'd be clinging to your feet."

They both chuckled.

"So… uh, what happened to this thing, anyway? The Tornado 2 always seemed to run pretty smooth to me. You never told me what the issue was."

"You never gave me an opportunity, really," Tails said, his voice sinking with mild disappointment. "You've been off exploring ever since that whole incident with Space Colony ARK."

Mentioning it aloud made the fox remember everything that had happened during those few days. It had been one of the most exciting adventures of his life… and also one of the most frightening. Eggman had secured all seven Chaos Emeralds and used them to strengthen Space Colony ARK's ultimate weapon, the Eclipse Cannon. The scientist had threatened the world with it, seeking unconditional surrender.

Sonic, of course, had put a stop to it. But not without nearly being killed in the process. Eggman had trapped him inside a pod and launched it into space. The only reason he hadn't been utterly destroyed was because he'd had another Chaos Emerald at the time. It was a fake, having been virtually cloned by the fox to trick Eggman, but somehow Sonic had still been able to teleport with it.

Tails still didn't have that one figured out.

Sonic shrugged. "Touché," he conceded, "but what can I say? I needed to get out of here for a bit."

"Yeah, I know," Tails said. "But next time you decide you're going to take a world tour, how about you leave your communicator on? Then at least your friends can contact you. I mean, what if Eggman were to show up and attack you… or us? Or suppose you trip at 700 miles per hour and injure yourself? It'd be hard to know where you were."

"Good thinking, bro," Sonic said, albeit a little half-heartedly. "I'll do that next time. Just make sure Amy doesn't know that, m'kay?"

"Haha, if you say so," the fox agreed. He harbored little irritation toward Amy, but understood that Sonic insisted on a rather opposite perspective, since it was partly for the young girl's own good. Where Sonic went, danger seemed to follow, nipping at his heels all the time. "I'm really glad you stopped by to visit, though! It's probably kind of boring for you, since nothing interesting has been happening around here lately…"

"If you were that boring to hang out with, Tails, I'd have stopped hanging out with you a long time ago. Besides, you know I try to swing by every few weeks or so. Wouldn't want you guys worrying about me or anything. Not to mention, the local chili dog joints are still some of the best I've encountered."

"…Not to mention _free _for famous blue hedgehogs," Tails remarked, rolling his sky-blue eyes.

Sonic shrugged. "Yeah, that's nice too, I suppose. Who'd complain?"

"Moocher."

"Says the person who makes most of his projects using old materials from Eggman's junkyards."

The fox blinked at Sonic's fast requital. "Did you… plan this conversation?"

"Did you plan on using that question the next time my quick wit caught you off guard?"

"Did you—"

"Anyway, you never answered my question," Sonic interrupted with a playful smirk. It grew larger when Tails rolled his eyes again. "What happened to this thing?"

The fox sighed in mock irritation, then began to explain. "Well, when Eggman launched you out of the space colony in that capsule, we all thought… Well, I was really mad at the time and I shot at him and then we pretty much totaled each other's machines. His got it worse than mine," he added with a smile.

"Awesome," Sonic said, returning the smile in kind.

"Thanks. But either way, I had to retaliate after what he tried to do to you… and for what he was about to do to the _world_, for that matter."

"Always worth it to fight back," Sonic said, his eyes gleaming in the sunlight like emeralds, right down to the color. "Lets people know they're not invincible, too. I swear, sometimes Eggman needs that kind of reality check."

Tails had to bite his lip to keep from making the smart remark he was about to make.

"Hey." Sonic pointed at a small radar built into the plane's control panel. "Something's glowing there."

The fox brushed his wind-blown bangs away from his eyes and took a close look at the signal. "Hey, what a coincidence," he said, meeting Sonic's curious expression with a smile, "If this thing is working right, that's a Chaos Emerald already!"

"I thought you could only detect a Chaos Emerald using another Chaos Emerald."

"Not anymore. See, I decided after the incident last month that we'd have a greater advantage in the future if our searches for the Chaos Emeralds were more effective." At this point, Sonic gave him a dry look, as if to say that much had been obvious before. Tails continued, albeit a little self-consciously: "So I created a new system that can not only detect their magnetic properties _with _the use of another Chaos Emerald, but without one, too. It's not very good yet, so we're lucky this is picking it up, but now I know it at least _works!_"

"That's great, buddy," Sonic told him. "So we heading down to get it, then?"

"Yeah," the fox said, "but we might have to explore a bit. I'll need to fine-tune this a bit more before we can pinpoint exact locations."

As they neared the ground, Tails pressed a rather conspicuous blue button and the plane's wings began to shift. The change was surprisingly smooth considering that they were still in the air. After a few seconds, it finished its transformation to its walker form, the Cyclone.

"And as you've probably noticed," Tails said, "This thing no longer needs a Chaos Emerald to run. I made some adjustments so it would be more lightweight, so it can support itself without another energy source."

"Tails…! All this in a few weeks?"

The fox winked at him, comfortable in his element. "You think you're missing out when you sit around, but you miss out on quite a bit when you're gone, too."

"Hey," Sonic said, "no offense, but this thing's a bit slow for my tastes. Mind if I hop out and see if I can find the Emerald the faster way?"

"It's not much faster if you don't know where you going," the eight-year-old muttered. "Besides, I doubt you feel too keen on taking a swim to get it." He gestured to the nearby pond. It leaned against a cliff side, from the top of which a waterfall was descending. They had passed the area many, many times in their travels; it was an area of the Mystic Ruins they were both familiar with.

"You think it's this close?"

"Yeah," Tails said. "It has to be, otherwise this thing wouldn't have been able to detect it. Like I said, it only has a small radius right now."

They climbed out of the Cyclone and made their way down toward the pond. Sonic stopped at the water's edge, splashing it around a little with one foot, then gestured for Tails to go. The fox gave him a sidelong glance.

"Seriously?" he asked. "It's only two feet deep."

"What?" Sonic said defensively. "Only one of us needs to go get it. Figured I'd stay here."

The fox stopped and turned to face him, teasing expression now replaced with a concerned one. "Wait – that pond really does bug you? I mean, I know you can't swim, but…"

Tails saw the answer in the blue blur's eyes just before he turned away, looking uncomfortable.

"I mean, that's fine, we all have our things. Sonic," he said, making the hero look at him. "Really, don't sweat it."

"I'm not, buddy," Sonic said, flicking his hand as if to flick the problem away too. "No big deal. I'm just not a big fan of water, I guess."

Tails smiled sympathetically. "You know, I always thought you didn't like water just because you couldn't swim. But it's the other way around, isn't it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well… are you… afraid of it?" The second Tails asked, he felt as if he shouldn't have. He put his hands out, about to say never mind, but decided against it. The question was already out there, and besides, Sonic was his best friend. They could talk to each other about things… right?

"I guess it bugs me a little," the hedgehog admitted. "Between you and me, though, okay?"

Tails nodded. "Sure thing. I'm going to go grab it now, because we're just _asking_ for someone to drop in and snatch that Emerald, standing here having a conversation."

"Heh, right. I'm surprised they haven't yet."

Spinning his fluffy golden tails, the fox rose into the air and out over the water, heading toward the Emerald in question. He put a gloved hand over his eyes, shielding them from the sun as he searched the glimmering liquid. After a moment he spotted the characteristic glow, radiating outward from the gem that was its source.

"Be careful, don't drown!" Sonic joked, but the tease was more at himself than Tails. He watched the fox stick his arm in the water and pull out the Chaos Emerald anticlimactically. "That's cheating, you can fly."

Tails snickered. "And it's not cheating when you win a race because you can run fast?"

"You know, I'm pretty sure I'd be able to fly long enough to tackle you out of the sky right now," the hedgehog said with a grin.

"You just invalidated your own point!" The fox said, grinning to match his surrogate brother's. He hovered over the water indecisively for a moment, thinking about teasing Sonic into accepting his own bet, but thought the better of it. If he truly was afraid of water, taunting him would either make him take on that aversion unnecessarily or turn down a challenge. Thinking the hedgehog would probably not like either of those options, even in a humorous context, Tails started drifting back towards land.

But Sonic had already seen it in his eyes. Before the fox could react, he was pulled horizontally from his airspace and to the other side of the pond. They landed with a splash in the muddy area where water met land, Sonic putting himself between his friend and the ground and letting his protective spikes absorb the impact.

And the mud.

Looking disgusted, he immediately got to his feet and wiped himself off. "Blegh. Was aiming for something a little more land-ish."

"Close enough," Tails laughed, getting up as well. He dipped himself in the water momentarily to clean the mud off his body, then shook himself dry. "Oh, uh, you got something there," he said, approaching Sonic. "And there. Um…" Trailing off, the fox grabbed his hand and pulled him back toward the edge of the pond, stopping him about a foot away. "Turn around."

Sonic raised an eyebrow, but did so without comment, trusting his friend. Tails leaped into the pond with a grin, facing away from Sonic, then spun his tails as fast as he could. Water sprayed everywhere, showering Sonic and carrying the mud away with it.

About ten seconds later, hedgehog and fox turned to face each other, the former with an expression significantly drier than the rest of his body. "Thanks."

Tails laughed sheepishly. "I suppose I could have just let you use my shower at home. But this was way quicker, wasn't it?"

"Guess it was, and I like quick." Sonic smiled. "So. We found a Chaos Emerald."

"Yeah! Hah, kind of forgot about that for a second. We should probably find a way to keep it safe."

"Y' know," Sonic began casually as they made their way back to the Cyclone, "we should find some more Emeralds while we're at it. I mean, we never actually bother to seek them out until there's trouble, and by then it's right on the edge of 'too late.' Hmm… on second thought, I like it that way."

"Me too, sometimes… but it's not really about us. Eggman has put people in real danger before, and if there's anything we can do to minimize that risk, it's our duty to do so."

The blue blur frowned at him. "Not a _duty_, really," he said, saying 'duty' as if he had an aversion to the word itself. "But you're right on with the rest."

"So you think we should go Emerald-hunting, then?"

"That's why I mentioned it." He winked.

"Hehe, okay. Well, with this Chaos Emerald for starters, I can probably amplify my radar a bit. It'll give it more power. That on top of the updates I'm planning on making to it this week. So in a few days, we should be set to go!"

"A few days? And here I was ready to go now! We already got the ball rolling, didn't we?"

Tails rolled his eyes, but his subtle grin betrayed that he was used to Sonic's excessive eagerness. "Yeah. And right now, it's rolling in the direction of my workshop, so I can update my radar, so we can actually be _productive _in our search."

"Looks like today was pretty productive without all that extra technology!"

"And would we have gotten a signal from the first Emerald if we hadn't flown the Tornado?"

"No, but that's kind of irrelevant, isn't it? We fly the Tornado all the time. If we didn't do it today we probably would have done it tomorrow, or—"

"And would we have been _able _to fly the Tornado again if I hadn't spent the last few weeks on 'all that extra technology?' Your way has its place, Sonic, especially when it comes to combating Eggman… but just not right now."

Said hedgehog's arms were crossed as they stopped in front of the Cyclone. "And suppose Eggman makes a comeback sometime during these several days where you're cooped up in your workshop?" he asked with a grin.

"I highly doubt that. It's only been a few weeks, and I don't think even _he _is fast enough to whip up another big plan – not to mention get the resources for it – in this short amount of time."

The hedgehog hopped into the pilot's seat himself, pressing the button to return the machine to its regular form. With a confident smirk, he gestured toward the passenger seat with his head. "Where have _you _been for the last several years?" he quipped as his friend hopped in behind him. "We're due for something any day now."

xxx

"_What you see is what you get. Just a guy that loves adventure." –Sonic Adventure 2_

xxx

_IN CHAPTER__ 2: __Sonic leaves to search for more Chaos Emeralds, while Tails works on the Tornado. Somewhere along the line, their com-link connection is lost, and the Tails is left in the dark about the blue blur's whereabouts. Meanwhile, the citizens of Station Square are slowly disappearing, and a certain detective suspects it has something to do with their client on Angel Island…_

The pond the Chaos Emerald was in is the same pond from the Mystic Ruins adventure field in Sonic Adventure, by the way, if the description didn't give that away.

See you next time! Don't forget to review and/or add this to your story alerts!


	3. Chapter 2: Espio's Warning

A few anonymous comments to respond to here.

Tara the Bat: Sweet, was hoping people would recognize it without the explanation. ;) Glad you enjoyed, and thanks!

An extreme fan of sonic: Thanks a lot, I'm glad you've enjoyed my writing so far. And I will! ^^

Lots of setting-up going on in this chapter for the plot, so bear with me if things are a bit confusing at first.

Enjoy!

xxx

CHAPTER 2: ESPIO'S WARNING

"So any day now?" Tails asked. "You really think so?" He tossed the Chaos Emerald once and caught it in his opposite hand. Its glow lit the workshop adequately, even though neither of them had bothered to turn on the light yet. Sonic was standing in the doorframe; he had stopped when the fox had turned to face him.

"Yeah. Eggman is as fast with his revenge plots as I am on my feet. He only _wants _you to think you have time to chill for a bit, you know?"

Tails shrugged, having nothing to say against his friend's argument, but still not willing to abandon his own. He knew Sonic counted on him as much as the reverse was true – the hedgehog had said so himself before being launched from Space Colony ARK not long ago – but part of being counted on was doing things for their cause that only he could do. "In that case," he said, "how about I work on the radar, and you try to find some Chaos Emeralds without me until it's ready? That way we can…"

"On it!" Before the two-tailed fox could even tell him to wait, Sonic had rushed back out the open doorframe, leaving the door swinging back and forth on its hinges. Leaning against the wall, Tails watched him streak away, leaving a trail of dirt and dust in his wake.

xxx

Three weeks later, unknown desert

xxx

Espio concentrated on making himself part of the environment around him.

Camouflaging was almost second-nature to him. Almost. On the rare occasion, he found himself in the midst of complex, detailed surroundings and couldn't blend in as easily as usual. To the naked eye, the area didn't seem all that complex or detailed, but he knew that the advanced security cameras nearby would beg to differ.

It was windy. The air around him was a swirl of sand. His legs ached from hiking his way over the sand dunes, but now, he was where he needed to be.

The sand got in his eyes. He blinked it away, wishing he could say that was the _only _problem it was causing. He focused again on camouflaging, but couldn't perfect it with the thousands of specks blowing wildly around him. There was no way he could blend in with every grain as it passed behind him; he would have to wait until the gusts died away, lest the cameras detect him.

He could not move forward until he was certain he wouldn't be caught.

_Patience, _he thought to himself impatiently, _is a virtue…_

Several long minutes passed before he finally had an opportunity, and even then, it was only a brief lapse in the wind. He moved quickly, blending to the best of his ability, running through the area he knew the cameras were focused on. It was unavoidable if he wanted to proceed in his search…

Espio smashed himself into the fence the cameras were attached to, positioning himself below the base of one of them, hoping its lens would not detect him since it was at an outward angle. It was a sturdy fence, which he was thankful for. If it had wobbled, alarms surely would have sounded.

Sharp ends poked out from the fence, digging into his flesh. He had not noticed them as he had approached, and realized that they were not intended to be noticed. They were a subtle defense mechanism against anyone who thought of trying to climb over. Ignoring the irritating sensation, he craned his head, peering through the holes. All he saw were more sand dunes, but he knew there had to be something on the other side, something this fence was _protecting_, just out of view.

He swiftly ran along the steel-wire barrier, following it around until he reached a higher hill. Finally, through the dusty air, he saw the top of a building. His interest piqued, and he made his way higher, until he could see the whole thing.

Most words he could think of were inadequate to describe the size of the place before him. The first one that seemed to do it any justice was colossal, and even that was something of an understatement. He had never seen a larger building in his life. Though he was beholding it from a short distance, there was no doubt in his mind that it was half a mile in circumference.

At the very top was the rotating logo of a familiar face, surrounded with bright red lights; the logo of the Robotnik Corporation. Across its mustache were the words, 'Meka Tower.'

The building's windows were dark and opaque. They had just enough transparency for him to make out what was inside. There appeared to be no distinct levels, but instead a ramp that spiraled up the cylindrical building, creating the equivalent of what looked like several dozen floors.

As he cautiously got closer, he could see that there were people inside.

Instinct and habit told him to find a way in there and see what was going on. But even he, a ninja and professional detective, did not dare do it alone.

He knew who he needed to find. The problem was that at a given moment, this particular person could be anywhere in the world.

There was only one place Sonic considered to be any sort of residence. Taking in the enormous prison one last time, Espio turned on his heels and began making his way back through the several miles of sand tunes, this time in the direction of Tails's workshop.

xxx

Tails froze, swearing he heard a knock. He waited, not letting himself become too hopeful yet. A wrench was held tightly in his greasy glove. His ears perked up, listening intently.

When he heard the knock again, the wrench went clattering across the floor, and he raced up the stairs, slamming the basement door behind him. As he ran excitedly to answer the door, he could only think that there was just one person who would have any reason to come to his house right now…

"Espio?"

…Then he remembered that if it had been Sonic, he wouldn't have even bothered knocking.

"You look disappointed to see me," the chameleon observed.

Tails blinked. "Oh," the fox mumbled, looking awkward. "No, I'm not. Sorry. It's not you, it's just that I haven't seen Sonic in a while, and I kind of wanted to hang out with him." He looked away a bit timidly, realizing how unintentionally rude he probably sounded.

"I didn't know you expected to see him on a regular basis," Espio said, his tone still calmly pleasant. "Isn't he usually gone?"

"Well, yeah," the fox admitted. "But he's about due to stop by. He's been out trying to find Chaos Emeralds, and… Last time he contacted me, he said he'd stop by this week sometime. This week is going to be over in…" he paused to glance at the clock, "less than seven hours."

"Sonic is an explorer. Even I know he doesn't run on a fixed schedule. I'm sure he is fine."

"Yeah, I mean, it's not like he hasn't done this before. He can be kind of forgetful sometimes." Tails tried to look more personable than he felt. Even though Sonic was probably fine, he had still gotten his hopes up to hang out with his friend again, only to find that he was no closer to doing so than he had been a few minutes ago. "So, um – wow, sorry we're still standing here on the porch. Come on in!"

Espio nodded his acceptance of Tails's invitation, walking into the living room and surveying it calmly. It had soft cyan walls, a sofa, and a coffee table. There was a bit of clutter on the floor that Tails picked up and casually tossed out of sight. Overall, the place was cozy and modest.

"Want anything? Coffee, whatever?"

"You drink coffee?" The chameleon asked, raising an eye ridge.

"Well, no, but Sonic likes a cup now and then. Same with Knuckles. He's around even less than Sonic, but I'm not that far from Angel Island, so he checks in on me now and then when he's out picking fruit for himself or whatever. Anyway, yeah, I keep some stuff here that they like for when they're around."

"I suppose I would appreciate a cup, if you don't mind."

"Of course! One second." The fox disappeared for a moment to start the coffee pot, then came back in and sat himself down. He pulled his knees up and leaned back against the arm of the couch, facing the opposite end, where Espio was seating himself. His stomach twitched nervously as it occurred to him for the first time that the detective would not show up at his home, in the middle of the Mystic Ruins, without a very good reason.

"To be frank with you, I did come here intending to speak with Sonic," Espio said. "I hope you won't mind relaying my message to him when he returns."

"Right, I can do that. What's going on? Where are Vector and Charmy?"

"They… have a client I am uncomfortable with. I don't understand his reasons for requesting their help."

The fox chuckled. "Then, um, shouldn't you be detecting?"

"It's not that simple. The client only requested _them_. Besides, I think their mission is somehow connected to what I've discovered. I'm just not entirely sure yet why I think that."

"What did you discover?" Tails pressed.

"There is a series of sand dunes a few miles outside the jungle of the Mystic Ruins. Many of the mounds are tall, and visibility is limited by the windblown sand."

"Great place to hide something…?" Tails suggested tentatively, to which the chameleon nodded once. "What?"

"To me, it looked like an enormous prison. But I suspect it is holding innocent people, not criminals. It had a spinning emblem of Eggman's face on a pole that rose hundreds of feet above the top of the building. If it was any lower, you wouldn't be able to see it, because the place covers such a large surface area."

"But… but what purpose could that have?"

"I don't know yet. But disappearance rates have steadily increased over the past few months, and as a detective, I do not believe in coincidence. Particularly, they have _soared _in this area."

"Is it affecting the Chaotix Detective Agency?" Tails asked.

"Yes, immensely. We have lost nearly twenty percent of our clients, and are having a hard time paying the rent. But that is not the only reason I'm concerned. In a short amount of time, Eggman has completed a project of mass proportions, and captured thousands of people, judging by the surplus of missing person reports that have been filed. He has done this under a very low profile. What are the implications?"

As Tails mulled over the semi-rhetorical question, he swung his feet off the sofa, got up, and went to pour Espio's cup of coffee. On the counter near the brewer was his wristband communicator. He picked it up and slid it on, then returned to the living room, carefully handing his acquaintance the cup.

"If you ask me," the fox began slowly, "it sounds like he's really upped his game. After what happened on Space Colony ARK a few months ago, maybe he got some inspiration from his grandfather and decided to get serious."

"You must be talking about Gerald Robotnik."

Tails met his eyes. "Yeah. It was all over the news for weeks, so I knew you must've heard about him. See… Gerald wanted to destroy the world after his granddaughter Maria got killed. He got bitter towards humanity and wanted them to pay for their selfishness. Eggman never agreed with Gerald about destroying the world, because if there was no world, there would be nothing for him to rule.

"But the thing I think the two of them had in common was their determination. I think Eggman realized that Gerald got closer to his goal than _he _ever got to _his_, and decided to follow in his footsteps… even if not in his _own _goals, then at least in his execution of his plans."

Espio was staring down into his coffee contemplatively, eyebrows creased downward in a subtle frown. "My first thought," he said, "was that it wasn't Doctor Eggman, but someone trying to impersonate him. It just seemed too unlike him to behave in the way he was. But I did not witness the incident on the space colony to know what you know."

"Do you think it makes sense?"

"Yes," the chameleon replied simply. Though he didn't say so, he was slightly irked that an eight-year-old had come up with such a theory before he had. Immediately following, he mentally disciplined himself for that moment of immature pride. "Anyway, I should excuse myself. The more I think about it, the more I feel as though I should investigate our current client."

"Why not just blend into your surroundings and watch what goes on from a distance?" The fox suggested.

"I had thought of that," Espio said, "but it's not that simple. The contract has been signed, and I am held to that."

"Why did you let your client split you guys up, anyway? I thought it didn't work that way."

"It doesn't. But like I said, we've seen a reduction in clients, and we needed the money." He crossed his arms. That motion was the only betrayal of his emotions; his face told nothing. "It's not lawful, but I'm beginning to feel that intervening is the right thing to do."

Tails made a face. "It's probably not lawful to be telling me all of this either, is it?"

"Touché."

"You said you think these happenings are connected, but you don't know why. Let me help! We'd both benefit if we can help each other out."

Espio fixed him with an unreadable stare. After a moment, he said decisively, "We will have to go to the agency in Station Square. I wrote down some of my thoughts when Vector first told me about the client."

"Like journaling?"

He shrugged. "A better comparison would be record-keeping. It is harder to keep track of your thoughts than you might imagine, when it comes to being a detective. Thinking is our job. It is smart to have a place to store all your thoughts in order for reference."

Tails hesitated. "Are you supposed to share those with me, though? I don't want to intrude if…"

"They are my records, and if this client is dangerous like I suspect he is, I will be justified in accepting outside help." He met the fox's eyes. "Now that we have a plan, I would like if we could make our way to the agency soon to retrieve my notes. First, though, were you going to try contacting Sonic?" he asked, gesturing to the communicator the fox was fiddling with.

"Uh, yeah," he muttered nervously, turning the device on. He gazed at it for a moment, his expression one of strained hope, but deep down he knew his brother was not going to answer. He was only bothering because he wanted to appease Espio.

Sonic had not contacted him or responded to him in weeks.

xxx

"_Eggman Empire. Yeahhhh, right." –Sonic Adventure 2_

xxx

_IN CHAPTER 3: Sonic awakens surrounded by enemies worse than any robot Eggman could create. Walls. Fortunately – and unfortunately – he is not the only one._

As a side note, Meka is pronounced just like 'mecha' and is a Japanese word.

See you next time. Review…? :)


	4. Chapter 3: Meka Tower

DanceDream: Don't know if you're reading this, but it's the only story I'm currently updating so I figured I'd thank you here with the rest of the anonymous reviews in case you come across it. Thanks so much for the comments. It's driving me up a wall that you're anonymous… I would totally have responded back to you if I could, since I agree with so much of what you said about Sonic and the way characters are handled!

An extreme fan of sonic: Haha, thanks. XD And you're one of quite a few people recently who have brought up Dark Sonic to me… for some reason people seem to want me to do that. That's tricky territory for me since I make a tremendous effort to stay true to character. But then, Sonic Unleashed kind of had a 'dark' version of Sonic and _that_ stayed true to character, so… (stares off thoughtfully) I'll see what I can do. ;)

SnowWolfWarriorKrysta: Awesome, glad to know. Thanks!

Everyone else: here, have a Sonic chapter! :D Just to let you know, some chapters in this story will be narrated by an observer character who's nearby at the time. I was actually inspired by a book called 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' for this, as that book has a quiet, on-the-sidelines character who narrates the _main _character's endeavors from his perspective. It's a really unique kind of storytelling that gives a different perspective of insight to the characters of focus (read: Sonic), and it's turned out well the few other times I've tried it… though you may not see huge significance in this until the story progresses more.

…At any rate, it's more a method of storytelling than anything, so this character won't be a spotlight thief or anything. Nobody likes spotlight thieves.

Enjoy! Oh, and Meka pronunciation = 'mecha.' It's a Japanese word.

xxx

CHAPTER 3: MEKA TOWER

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First-person perspective

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"He'll be lucky if he can keep me locked in a ten-by-ten cell for more than ten _minutes._"

The voice was vaguely familiar, but that wasn't why I looked up. I looked up because of the aggressive confidence infused in those words, because that confidence contradicted every emotion I was feeling.

In the cell across from me was Sonic the hedgehog.

My heart leapt in my chest; a mixture of sudden surprise and dull dread. I was surprised because of his very presence, but dreadful of what that implied. If he, a hero hailed for his speed and skill, famed for particular talent of saving the world, had gotten captured… was there any hope for the rest of us?

Despite my invisible fears, he seemed to think so. There was no doubt in his face as he curled into a ball and threw himself into the door hard. It didn't give way, so he let himself ricochet off it, slamming into the wall behind him. He repeated the process again and again, trying to shake the cell apart from itself. After striking with force that I thought warranted at least a large dent, he uncurled and landed gracefully on his feet.

Neither the walls nor the door bore any mark of weakness.

"Hm," he mumbled, placing his hands on his hips. He studied the structure of the room for a moment, seemed to determine that it gave him no advantage, then redoubled his efforts and tried again.

After a few minutes of recklessly trying to break out, he became winded. The cockiness that had been on his face had waned, and now he looked baffled.

He didn't seem like the kind of person used to being trapped anywhere. Neither was I, neither were most people… but he, especially so. Replacing the confusion now was an expression of refusal and defiance.

I almost wanted to say something to him, tell him I knew how irritating it was to be stuck here. He had just been brought to this wretched place today. I was no veteran either, as yesterday had been my lucky day… but at least now, I'd had that whole day to wrap my mind around the circumstances.

A day was a great deal of time when you could do little else but think. The idea of being here for many more was unbearable.

The first few hours had been some of the worst in my life, maybe not as a result of the things that happened, but as a result of my mental anticipation of what could happen… that 'fear of the unknown' that people talk about but can never really fully comprehend until they've experienced it. I remembered suddenly feeling the grasp of cold metal around my forearms, being yanked forcefully away from my life, stripped of my freedom, and of my plans for the following days that now seemed so trivial by comparison...

Once I had been deposited in the cell, everything became surreal, like my mind refused to process what had happened, like it was just a daydream that I could pull myself out of anytime.

Of course, it was as real as could be.

For the first time, Sonic gave his surroundings a thorough glance, as if he hadn't deemed them important before. When his gaze passed my way, I ducked below the window of my cell, so that he wouldn't see me. I didn't know why I suddenly wanted to avoid him. Most people would love to interact with someone as famous and heroic as Sonic. While I had nothing against him, for some reason I had no desire to associate with him either. I didn't want to associate with anyone. I just wanted to get out and forget this day and a half had ever happened.

The barrier he had smashed himself into was made of solid steel, like mine. The gate went up three feet or so; about a third of the way. The gap between the gate and the ceiling had vertical iron rods barring it off, to prevent escape. Being anything but tall, Sonic could not see much from it unless he backed up, but he would see me if I wasn't careful.

On the wall to his right was another barred window that he shared with the neighboring cell. Naturally, he glanced to his left to see if there was a window on that wall too, but there wasn't. My setup was exactly the same, with a large, barred window in the front and on one side, as if everyone was supposed to have a roommate of sorts.

Nobody occupied the cell next to me, but I didn't mind. The easier I could avoid everyone, the better.

There was a small, flat light in the center of each cell's ceiling. They emitted red glows that reflected off the many metal surfaces forming the cells, making the rooms bright and ominous at the same time. From the hallway came a dark purple tint. I tilted my head upwards to examine the hallway's ceiling. As the glow had betrayed, it was lined with lights of deep violet. Though it gave the place a somewhat sinister feel, it was better than your typical white or off-white lighting system. It gave the place some personality… despite the dark nature of that personality.

On the concrete floor there was a cushiony beige bedroll and two pillows, and a small faucet stuck out of the wall about a foot up, hovering over a round drain. The essentials for washing were there too; plain white bars of soap, cheap-looking shavers, and shreds of cloth that looked like they'd been thrown in as an afterthought. As far as prisons went, it probably could have been a lot worse, but I would have preferred to be almost anywhere else.

"Hey, don't you come in here! Seriously, it wasn't me this time! Jeez!"

It was already becoming instinctual for me to make myself inconspicuous when there was noise. I did this now, but kept my eyes just above the wall, peeking through the bars. The voice had come from the cell next to Sonic's.

Setting his escape plans aside for the moment, Sonic leapt up to the window between the two cells and grasped the bars, peeking through them into his neighbor's area to see what was going on. From the angle my own cell was at, I could see into that cell as well, though I had to shift a little so the bars didn't block my vision. I ducked for a moment to brush my dirty-blonde hair away from my eyes.

An android was entering, approaching the human male who had suddenly backed against the wall. The man was tall and had dark-chocolate hair, moderately high cheekbones, and heavy, rich eyebrows; an appearance that looked bold, despite his obvious fright.

"Listen," he tried again, sounding a little more nervous, "you can't just assume—"

"If it was not you making all that noise, then who was it?" The android interrupted him. I saw the young male's dark green eyes flit to Sonic for an instant, almost imperceptibly; but he didn't say anything. The android folded its arms. "I have no reason to believe you didn't do anything, considering how insufferable you usually are."

Sonic blinked. I was pretty sure I did, too. The android was _arguing_, like a person would. For that matter, it _looked _a lot like a person, too. It had most of the same characteristics and curves that a human would have, except its exterior was black metal and not skin. Smooth, round joints shifted smoothly within their sockets as the droid moved, the resulting noise a silky metallic whisper. It had two glowing lenses for eyes, set deeply into caves of eye sockets so the blue glow projected outward in funnels of light.

"Yeah," the human said, "but I've never _lied _about it before, have I? I'm no coward. I didn't do anything, and I wouldn't deny it if I did!"

The android's pseudo-eyes narrowed. Then he moved forward with surprising swiftness and pinned the man to the wall. He gritted his teeth, turning his head to the side, fearing punishment.

At that exact moment, Sonic realized what I had been aware of the whole time: it was his _own _noise that had drawn the attention of the android, his fight with the cell gate having drawn more attention than he had intended… "Hey!" he shouted, prepared to take responsibility, emerald eyes appearing to hold no reluctance. Both human and android turned their heads. "He's being honest. So leave him alone."

"Why, would you like a turn?" the droid asked snidely. It was smart for a chunk of metal, in quite a few ways. I wondered if it was a creation of Doctor Eggman. My stomach turned at the thought, and I suddenly wanted to throw myself at the bars as hard as Sonic had a few minutes ago.

"Do your worst!" the hedgehog provoked, putting on arm in the crook of his other elbow and stretching it across his chest. I frowned. Moments ago he had been infuriated by his circumstances. Yet now he appeared as though it was nothing out of the ordinary. I would have been intrigued by such resilience if I didn't think it was totally contrived. He was Sonic the hedgehog; of _course _he had to put on a brave face.

The humanoid exited the other cell and made to enter his. There was a clinking sound as it began fiddling with the lock. With a start I realized what Sonic's real plan was.

"Ah ha ha, silly hedgehog," the android said, pausing knowingly and looking at Sonic through the bars. I didn't have to see the bot's face to know the arrogant look it was making. "You plan to use your fast feet to escape, don't you?"

The hedgehog clenched a fist. "Aw, I was hoping you wouldn't be that smart."

"Then you underestimate me."

"Well… can you at least leave that guy alone?"

"I suppose, for the moment. Neither of you will get off so easily after the next offense. Do me a favor, and try to convince him he shouldn't cause such a ruckus all the time. It would facilitate my job significantly."

"…Er," Sonic mumbled intelligently, evidently not sure how to react to the robot's conversational tone. Thankfully, he decided to keep his remarks to himself for the moment, which was a wise choice since the droid probably had the potential to be a threat if it wanted to be. He waited for the robot to break eye contact and walk away before turning toward the neighboring cell.

"Sonic… you're stuck in here too." The young male was at their common window. "I'm a big supporter. Different circumstances would be better, of course, but still. Uh, thanks for stopping that thing." He looked off in the direction said thing had gone distastefully. "I didn't want to tell him it was you making the noise, but you told him anyway. Just as fearless as the media portrays you."

Sonic was blushing a little at this point. I watched on, shaking my head. He wasn't fearless… he was just impulsive and conceited. "Psh, yeah, yeah," he muttered, swishing his hand. "You gotta do what you gotta do."

"I'm Lucas, by the way," the man said, forest green eyes brightening slightly as he introduced himself. The smile on his face looked a bit out of place there, as if he hadn't used it in a while. He looked to be in his early twenties, a few years older than me.

"I'm—well. I guess that's obvious by now." Sonic winked. I rolled my eyes. "So. What's this place all about? What's going on?"

"Right, I was going to fill you in," Lucas said. "If you haven't guessed by now, the person behind all this is—"

"Yeah, Eggman. I know," Sonic interrupted him. I almost threw up in my mouth. "When I woke up a few minutes ago, I forgot what happened at first, but I've got it sorted now. We'll get out of here."

Why was he acting like it'd be so easy? He was only getting that Lucas guy's hopes up for nothing. Didn't he realize how selfish that was?

For his part, Lucas ignored the hedgehog's reassurances, changing the subject. "So how'd Eggman manage to capture someone like you, anyway?"

"Still trying to figure that one out," Sonic admitted. "Usually I stop stuff like this before it gets this far. But I didn't even know he was up to anything. I suspected, but I didn't _know_, y' know?" Lucas nodded. "I was just out running, and got ambushed… if you can call it that. There were only two of them, but they had me beat. I think they were the same as the ones that patrol this place. They're really strong."

"Yeah, the same ones captured me. I think they're called the H-series, because they look so human. It's no wonder he's managed to get so many people already. You just can't get away from them."

Sonic shook his head. "Once I realized they were taking me somewhere, I got serious and tried to break free, but their grip must've been even stronger than Knuckles'. A friend of mine," he added when Lucas looked at him cluelessly. "And Eggman was there too, telling the androids where to go. I'm pretty sure they knew already, but he just wanted an excuse to be there."

"To rub it in your face?"

"Guess so. Wouldn't put _that _beyond him." He paused. "But anyway, what's done is done. Just gotta take it from here now, I guess."

Lucas shifted his gaze away from Sonic, directing it instead at the ground. He looked like he wanted to say something, but couldn't find the right words to express it.

"Hey, you okay?" Sonic asked him, raising an eye ridge. "You know we'll get out, right?"

"Same confidence I started off with," the man muttered, turning away. "I've been here for a month now. I was one of the first. Even when this place was in its beginning stages, and still had some bugs and loopholes… I couldn't get out."

Sonic was silent for a moment. Wow. "A month?" The quality of his voice had changed just slightly.

"Sonic…" Lucas began, slowly meeting the hedgehog's eyes, "I know you and Eggman have been at each other's throats forever now. _Everyone _knows that, you two are on the news pretty much every other week. So I know you probably think you're used to his tactics. You'll think _I _won't know what I'm talking about since I haven't had any personal experiences with him. But… would you take my word for it if I said I think he's gotten worse?"

Sonic didn't answer, but instead asked a question of his own. "How long has all this been going on?"

"Like I said, I think I was one of the first. There were only a few dozen other people when I got here, and there are hundreds of cells on each floor."

"What floor is this?"

"Top one," Lucas said. "Not _floors_, exactly. The whole place is a spiral ramp, but it's considered the next section each time the spiral goes around once."

"And we're in the very top section," Sonic said flatly. "Figures. No way out from up here."

In an undertone of grim pride, Lucas said, "The best of us are up here for that very reason." I almost snorted. _'The best of us?'_ Following that logic, I should be somewhere in the first or second section. Unless all the sections below this floor were already full. I didn't want to think about that. "…The ones who don't want to let him get away with this. The ones who fight back." He paused. "Or… fought back."

"My kind of people," Sonic said, winking again. I wasn't sure if he had heard what Lucas had added under his breath. If he had, he was choosing to ignore it. "But… why? What's the point of capturing a bunch of people?"

"Nobody knows for sure. There's some speculation that he's hunting for the most athletic and coordinated people he can find, that he wants an army of actual living beings instead of robots. Doesn't make sense to me, since robots are usually stronger than your average human."

Sonic kicked the beige sleeping bag, unrolling it in one motion, and plopped down on it. He wore a disturbed expression on his face. "Makes sense to me," he said quietly. "Humans have one advantage that robots don't… one advantage that Eggman thinks will give him all the leverage he needs."

"What's that?"

"Well," he began, "robots are easy to kill, right? They don't have feelings or anything like that. They're just pieces of scrap metal. But actual people…" he shook his head, and his facial features betrayed sorrow and steadily rising anger. "People have lives and memories. People have dreams." He caught Lucas's gaze again, made it snag on his own. "People feel pain."

"So you're saying… he thinks it would keep forces like G.U.N. from trying to stop him, if he was putting actual human lives at stake."

"Yeah," Sonic said, closing his eyes, "and forces like me."

"But… but you can't exactly do much right now. He—"

"He knows I'll get out. Maybe he thinks he's got an advantage, but using people can be a disadvantage, too, because people have willpower. You could be right when you say getting out of here won't be as easy as I think… but taking over the world isn't going to be as easy as _he _thinks, either."

Well, that was food for thought, I had to admit. Perhaps there was more to this famous hero than smart retorts and bravado. I kind of wanted to find out, but it didn't come anywhere near my desire to be rid of this prison and have my life back.

"You're right," Lucas said. "People I know have gotten hurt because of Eggman's attacks in the past. Like when that water monster almost destroyed Station Square. So I'm not going to do anything that'll help him hurt anyone else."

Sonic grinned. "That's more like it."

In response, Lucas chuckled, but it didn't have the energy it seemed like it should have. "Not really. Just saying it how it is. I'm not giving up, but I don't feel like we're getting out of here anytime soon, either. And it gets rough sometimes. Especially for someone like you."

The smile that was still lingering on the hedgehog's face faded away. "Hey now, what's that supposed to mean?" he asked defensively. "'Especially for someone like me?'"

"Well, I got the impression you didn't like staying in one place for too long."

"Heh, yeah, but like I said, I won't _be _here for too long."

Lucas sighed exasperatedly. "I tried."

"You watch," Sonic said gently, determination not faltering despite Lucas's lack of faith. "Now that I know about all this… the faster I get out, the faster this whole place is free. In fact, just consider it done."

"Just be careful, Sonic. Do anything too impulsive in here, and you end up paying for it somehow. I've gotten smacked around by those androids before. Sometimes you'll get meals taken away, or that irritating chao will come by…"

Sonic rolled his eyes and pressed his hand to his forehead dramatically. "Oh, the terror. How will I _ever _get through this?"

"I know it doesn't sound like a big deal to you, but this place takes its toll, Sonic."

"Right," the hedgehog said, and I couldn't tell now if he was being sarcastic or genuine or something in between. "I think I can handle it."

"Whatever," Lucas said defeatedly, leaving the view of the window and flopping down heavily on his bedroll, "you win the stubbornness battle."

"Wait… no need to be so bitter, I'm just trying—"

"I'm not bitter," Lucas said bitterly. "I just… wish I had your spirit right now. I'm not giving up or anything, like I said. But a month of captivity takes its toll, like I said. I hope you don't have to find that out for yourself."

The young male wriggled his way beneath the covers. As if on cue, the bright red lights in the cells turned off, leaving only the deep violet glow coming in from the hallway. It was mostly unobtrusive; a comfortably dim aura that granted just enough visibility for me to see my own hands in front of me. For several moments, Sonic sat where he was, looking like he wasn't sure what to say or do. He glanced at the window at the front of his cell, towards the dim light. I looked up, too. There were light patterns of Eggman's face on the ceiling. Again, he rolled his eyes, but for an entirely different reason.

He daydreamed at the wall for a while. I wondered what he was really thinking about, behind the show of confidence. I wondered if he was worried about how he would get out, or what Eggman was up to. Maybe he was wondering what was wrong with the rest of us while we sat there wondering what was wrong with him.

Then again, he was right, to an extent. Nothing about the place seemed incredibly horrendous, save for the fact that we were all trapped in it. But I just had the feeling there was something worse lurking in the shadows than what we could see. Eggman wouldn't capture people just to have them sit there. Things like this didn't happen without significance.

"Lucas," Sonic said softly after a few minutes, and it sounded like the obstinacy was gone from his tone. "What can I do to help?"

There was noise as Lucas shifted in his sleeping bag, indicating that he had gotten comfortable in a position that faced away from Sonic's cell and now had to turn to face him again. "Just hang in there. It's all any of us can do to help each other right now."

"Sounds like you need to take your own advice, no offense."

Lucas turned back over. "Sorry Sonic, but I'm exhausted. I swear… I'm a lot more friendly when I'm wide awake."

Sonic nodded out of habit, even though they could no longer see each other. "Fair enough." Then he finally laid down on his bedroll too, facing the back wall. The sedative Eggman had knocked him out with during the transport hadn't worn off yet. I knew that because the effects of my own sedative from _yesterday_ hadn't quite gone away yet, despite that I had slept.

As my eyes continued to adapt to the darkness, I saw him trace a finger over something on the wall. It was the edge of a large metal panel that appeared to be built into it. There wasn't one on my wall or Lucas's, from what I could see, which was peculiar. When I glanced back at him, his hand was tucked under his cover with the rest of him, and his torso was rising and falling steadily with the slow breaths of sleep.

xxx

"_It's cute how much you hate me." –Eggman, Sonic Chronicles_

xxx

'Til next time! Don't forget to add this to your alerts and – oh, you know. By the way, if any of you are Sonic X fans, 'The Birth of Super Sonic,' a Sonic X-based one-shot, is up now too.

_IN CHAPTER 4: __More light is shed on Espio's concerns, and he and Tails are joined by a certain pink hedgehog – whether they like it or not. Meanwhile, Sonic faces a frustrating surprise that serves to add insult to injury quite literally. _


	5. Chapter 4: Reduced World

First things first: new artwork! RedFireGreenThunder5 has drawn an awesome little picture of Super Tails from Beyond the Chaos, the third story in my Undestined Future series which I think quite a few of you were around for. The link is on my profile; go check it out, along with RedFireGreenThunder5's other sketches and drawings, they're really neat and well-done! Lots of Sonic, too. :)

An extreme fan of sonic: Heya, thanks a bunch! Yup, the narrator is a female; good observation. Glad I'm updating fast enough for ya. Trust me, I used to be a lot more inconsistent, but I've been doing good lately. *knock on wood* XD

Now then, onward! By the way, don't let the first-person perspective get to you; it's still the same story and all, and Sonic's situations is happening at the same time as Tails' and Espio's. It's way less confusing than the last chapter probably made it look, considering the transition was kind of sudden. Sorry 'bout that. But you'll find most of her narration isn't all that different from third-person to begin with, since she's mostly focused on the world around her like a regular perspective would be. And as I've said before, nothing goes without reason. Hmm, that's a good thing to keep in mind throughout the story, now that I think about it… *stares off meaningfully*

Ahem. Enjoy!

CHAPTER 4: REDUCED WORLD

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First-person perspective

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Sonic had a tight grip on the bars at the front of his cell. Judging by the strain in his arm muscles, he was holding himself up by them alone; there was nothing beneath his feet. He had his face pressed against two of the bars as he looked around, taking in the environment outside his cell curiously with those emerald-green eyes of his.

All in all, it was the same as what was inside his cell, only multiplied. He had observed this several times already; I didn't know what he was after.

His gaze settled last on the lock near the bottom of the outside of his door. It was different than all of the other locks, including my own. It looked to be made of thick titanium, or some kind of strong metal, and was obviously of higher quality. The keyhole was larger and different in design, indicating that only a specific key would open it.

Eggman had reserved the cell for Sonic alone.

I dropped back down slowly, so that only my eyes were above the concrete door, and hoped my movement wouldn't catch his attention. Why was that cell geared so precisely toward Sonic? Was it just an extra security measure to prevent his escape, or was there some other reason I wasn't catching onto? He had to be wondering the same thing. Either way, his chances of escape had now been lowered that much more.

Though I searched his eyes, I could find only the slightest sign of irritation there. It occurred to me that perhaps he had not yet realized the significance of the unique lock, but for some reason, I knew he had. We had been here for nearly a few days now, and one could learn a lot about a person in a few days, especially considering the circumstances. He was more observant and intelligent than most people probably gave him credit for. That wasn't the reason for his lack of reaction.

Was he just that accustomed to things going wrong that it was normal for him? Was he merely not motivated to try and escape this place?

That notion didn't sit right, either. Maybe he was motivated by _doing _something rather than avoiding something else, despite how many things it would do him well to avoid in this environment.

Maybe I was the one who was missing something. I didn't know. I reminded myself that I shouldn't _care_, either. There was no reason for me to pay him any extra mind just because he was famous.

A few other prisoners saw him as he continued to peek through the bars. I heard one of them say, "Not such a hero after all, eh?" in a sour voice. One of Sonic's ears twitched and I knew he had heard. Suddenly looking frustrated and more alone than I had ever imagined Sonic the hedgehog looking, he dropped back down into his cell.

xxx

At midday an H-series android made an announcement that the announcement system was now officially up and running – just in case its voice echoing over the intercom wasn't enough of an indication – and added as an afterthought that tap water would be available in limited supply to any given person, only to be used for ten minutes a day. Sonic wandered over to the faucet on the wall and crouched down, studying it for a moment and then slowly turning the knob. Water shot downward in a forceful line, making an obnoxious noise as it spattered against the drain. "Uhh, yeah…" he said, turning it off, "you looked like that kind of faucet."

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Lucas get up from where he'd been sitting in his cell and watch Sonic from the window. "Heard you're not fond of water," he said.

Sonic blinked and glanced at the faucet again as if it might vouch for him a little here. "It's a faucet," he said flatly when it didn't.

"No, I know," the man said, looking a little embarrassed. "I wasn't talking about _that_. It just reminded me I'd been curious, is all."

"Well, for starters, I'm totally okay with faucets." Sonic raised an eyebrow, then carefully turned the water on again, cupping some in his hands and splashing it through the bars at Lucas, who flinched away reflexively. "_You, _on the other hand…"

"Point received, already," Lucas said, making a respectable effort not to smile.

Sonic got comfortable, plopping down against the wall near the faucet, leaning in and letting water run over the back of his head. "I wish those guys would announce the time now and then," he said conversationally, carefully working his hands between quills and scrubbing. "Feels like noon or so to me right now. What do you think?"

"Sure," Lucas answered blankly, watching him. "Well, you can wash up now anyway. The rest of us get to wait until nighttime when the lights are off and no one can see."

"Heh, tough luck," Sonic said. "Nice having fur, I gotta admit."

Lucas and I both watched him continue to work his hands into his quills. They clumped together more and more as he washed them, eventually sogging down into a single giant mass. Maybe he should wait until nighttime like the rest of us after all…

"You look ridiculous when you do that," Lucas commented, reflecting my own thoughts pretty accurately. Sonic turned off the water and shook his head back and forth, bringing the blue spikes back to their bouncy, separated style. Glancing once again at Lucas, he gave a thumbs-up and said,

"You look ridiculous."

xxx

Station Square was alive with the varied rush of businessmen, shoppers and tourists. Tails and Espio were surrounded by skyscrapers, staying in the shadows they cast to avoid the hot sun. There was construction off in the distance; an area of the city that had been flooded by Perfect Chaos months ago.

Espio came to a sudden but graceful halt.

"Is that Amy Rose up ahead?" he asked discreetly, ignoring the person who had just run into his back.

Tails responded with an uneasy groan. "Oh, great. Why now? She's my friend, but she always shows up at the worst times…"

Espio was about to camouflage, thinking to make the situation less complicated by removing himself from it, but Amy had already seen him.

Her feet thudded quietly on the sidewalk as she approached them at a jog. Her casual red dress swung back and forth with her movements. There was impatient concern framing her green eyes, as if she could read the discomfort in their minds. Not bothering with pleasantries, she fixed Tails with a glare. "You two hardly know each other," she said, "and nobody who's _usually _with either of you is around. So don't tell me you're on a casual trip to the mall. What's going on, and where is my Sonic?"

For a moment, all three of them were consumed by the peculiar thought of Tails and Espio strolling through the mall, window-shopping and pointing out hot clothing.

"Amy… we were just… I'm helping Espio figure something out about—" He paused abruptly when said chameleon gave him a warning glance.

"Who?" Amy pressed. "Figure something out about who?"

"Er, well," he stammered. Though he didn't have intentions of lying to Amy or escaping her questions, her forceful insistence made him nervous anyway. Sometimes he understood why Sonic preferred to avoid her. "It's kind of confidential, actually," he continued. "I can't tell you."

"Ohhh, I see," the girl said a bit too pleasantly. "But Espio can tell _you_? That's okay?"

The fox closed his eyes, uncomfortable with her nosiness, but at the same time feeling bad for making her third wheel. "It's not that simple, Amy, it's…"

"Sonic's involved somehow, isn't he?" she blurted, her confident, pushy exterior giving way to her genuine emotions for an instant. "This isn't fair! You have to let me know what's going on! I won't get in the way, I promise!"

"No, we're not talking about Sonic," Tails said helplessly. "Why would he be one of the Chaotix Detective Agency's clients?"

"I never said he was one of their clients," Amy said with forced patience, "I just said he's involved."

Tails looked at Espio nervously, a subtle plea for help. In response, Espio disappeared. This is your battle, the gesture said.

"Well, I guess…" he wanted to make eye contact with the chameleon, wanted to seek his approval of her joining them, but he couldn't even find a faint outline to reveal his location. "Sure, you can come." Tails chuckled once. "I mean, it looks like I'm the only one with an opinion on it anyway." He heard Espio sigh. "Just don't tell anyone about any of this, okay?"

"Of course not! You know you can count on me, Tails!"

Tails smiled at her. _Well, Espio, if it's that big of a deal you should have said something._

"Really, though…" the pink hedgehog continued, "where _is_ Sonic? I haven't seen him in forever, and I've checked out all the places we usually find him."

"Perhaps that's why he doesn't go to those places," Espio muttered under his breath, his violet form becoming visible again. Thankfully, Tails was the only one who heard him, and he didn't make light of it.

"To be honest, Amy," the fox began, "I've been wondering the same thing. I think he's still gone from when he left before. As far as I know he hasn't been back since the day I took the Tornado on that test run."

"Oh… really? Well, I guess I should expect that of him by now… but doesn't he know his friends want to see him?"

"I'm sure he does," Tails said, wishing he could somehow justify his surrogate brother's absence. He shrugged. "But he's gotta do what he's gotta do. Your guess on all this is as good as mine."

xxx

First-person perspective

xxx

The day passed too slowly and the night too quickly. Sonic's voice served as the alarm clock for the morning, quiet enough to leave the atmosphere tranquil but loud enough to wake Lucas and me.

"Whoa. Um. Ow…?"

It was an odd statement, mostly because the confused undertone did not match the implied pain that 'ow' was usually associated with.

There was a small, swollen cut on the back of each of his hands. He twisted around to examine his feet. There were cuts there, too. "Wh-what?" he mumbled somewhat groggily, rubbing fatigue out of his eyes and then examining himself again.

Lucas, next door, heard him talking to himself.

"You're awake," he said flatly. "Now that it's probably five in the morning and I just fell asleep, you're awake."

There was an awkward moment that probably should have been filled with a remark or a sarcastic apology, but Sonic himself was just waking up too, and his wit was lagging.

"I tried yelling at you to wake up when the robots were doing that," Lucas continued, words becoming distorted momentarily as he yawned. "Got in trouble."

The explanation posed several questions. What did the robots do? Why had Sonic not woken up during it? How had Lucas 'gotten in trouble?'

To combine all three, Sonic stared at up at Lucas through the bars and said, "Huh?"

It had the desired effect. The young male took a deep breath and elaborated, sounding somewhat more awake now. "I was sleeping, too, when I heard the door of your cell click open. I wanted to see what was going on, so I got up and watched through the bars. They stuck you with a sedative, I think, so you wouldn't wake up."

"Another one?" the hedgehog muttered. That seemed to bother him more than whatever had happened to his limbs. "I'm going to be sleeping the rest of my life at this rate."

Lucas continued on as if he hadn't been interrupted. "I yelled at them to stop when they started doing… _that_." He gestured uncomfortably to the moist wounds on Sonic's extremities. "But it wasn't any use. They just got pissed and took away my meals for tomorrow."

"Oh, sorry," Sonic said with a shrug. "So, ah, what did they do to me?" On the surface, it sounded like a question asked out of mere curiosity, but now I could finally hear the nervousness seeping into his voice.

Lucas grimaced. "They… put some kind of magnets in, or that's what they said anyway. I think it's because, you know, you're fast… and if they need to get into your cell, there's a greater risk of you escaping. So…"

He paused as Sonic turned away from him, facing the panel on the back wall. "It's magnetic," he said quietly as he approached it, putting a hand on his hip. "Cute. That madman thinks he can hold _me _in place, does he?"

"It's kind of disturbing, isn't it? I mean, he's so bent on keeping you here…"

"Disturbing? Of _course _he wants to keep me here. He knows if I wasn't trapped, you guys would all be free, and this place would be obliterated by now."

"Yeah, I guess that might explain it… but that would imply he has as much confidence in your abilities as you do, wouldn't it? He wouldn't put you on that kind of pedestal."

The inquiry gave him pause.

"It's like I said before," Lucas continued, not waiting for Sonic to prepare a response. "I think he's up to something, something none of us can see yet."

The hedgehog swished his hand. "Well of _course _he's up to something, but come on. You're making this sound all ominous and we don't even have a reason to worry yet. Aside from the obvious, that is," he added, gesturing with his hands to his limited surroundings. "Really, though, just relax. Let's not create problems out of hunches, you know?"

"Fair enough," Lucas said. "I mean, I guess we don't really know much yet."

Sonic laughed. "Say what? I just _won _an argument with you?" he asked with mock-incredulity. "I think Holoska just melted!"

"Oh, please." Lucas pressed a hand to his forehead. "If I could free one person for every argument I could still make against you, this prison would have _negative_ numbers of people by tomorrow afternoon."

"…Wait, what?"

"You get the point," the human said defensively, looking embarrassed.

"But you can't have negative numbers of people," Sonic said obviously. "I win."

"I like you better when you're asleep."

"I like you better when there's only negative-one of you."

"Sonic…!"

"Good _night_." The hedgehog plopped back down on his bedroll, twisting it into a tangle of blanket that was apparently comfortable for him. "…Jeez."

"Hm?" Lucas mumbled from his cell.

"Nothin', was talking to myself again. Since, you know, I'm the only one who seems to enjoy my company lately."

"Go back to sleep, Sonic."

The hedgehog remained quiet, which was what Lucas was really after, so it was close enough. I paced back and forth for a few minutes along the back wall of my cell, where it was darkest, glancing over now and then to see if Sonic was still awake. Every time I did, the violet nighttime light glanced off the white of his eyes, letting me know he was.

Which meant he was hearing the same chatter I was hearing: people talking about how the supposed-hero Sonic the hedgehog was trapped on the top floor of Meka Tower, wondering who could possibly save them now. It shouldn't have brought me the cruel pleasure it did, listening to them rip on Sonic like that and watching him simply lay there and let them. Maybe it wouldn't have if he wasn't so blindly overconfident. I wondered if they had any clue he was still awake, and that he could hear everything they said.

xxx

It was the middle of the night when a loud groan from Lucas woke me up. Normally, the noise one makes in the middle of the night is vague and incoherent, but the noise he had made was direct, angry – awake.

As always, I got up to see what was going on.

I thought I saw the briefest flash of movements, but after that one instant, I couldn't spot the source of it. It was only Lucas, standing in his cell, looking startled. His pillow was on the other side of the room and his sleeping bag was in a crunched-up wad. The most basic assumption would have been that he had a nightmare. Maybe he had.

But… that movement.

xxx

_"Where there is light, there is shadow." –Espio, Sonic Heroes_

xxx

…Indeed, Espio. Indeed. ;)

If you're waiting for the action to pick up… so am I. XD I suppose this was kinda one of those necessary set-up chapters, but I still had a lot of fun with it. Hopefully it had enough to it to keep you entertained!

_IN CHAPTER 5: While making plans to see what's really going on with Knuckles at Angel Island, Tails and Espio encounter unexpected trouble. Could these be the same robots that captured Sonic? The last thing they need is to end up in the same situation, but the tight grasp of an H-series android is nearly inescapable. It's a dodgy fight – quite literally – and neither Espio nor Tails are gifted with quick reflexes like their blue friend. If _Sonic_ didn't stand a chance… do they?_


	6. Chapter 5: Hightail

An extreme fan of sonic: Glad you're itching for her to say something, that's the desired effect… though it may yet be a while. ;) And yeah, Espio is just kind of annoyed with Amy. She's kind of easy to get annoyed with, but I'm definitely going to make her more than just a whiny, irritating character. Awesome that you made an account! Also I'm glad you like the quotes, and sure, if you want to suggest some quotes, I might use them! :) Thanks a lot, again – I'm flattered you like my writing so much thus far!

So yeah, this update's a few days early. Got dib07 to thank for that – we've been talking a lot about both of our fanfiction lately and it certainly adds to my motivation!

Oh, one more thing: I edited the main characters section to include Tails, instead of just Sonic, for this story. I'm quite ahead in this story, and I've discovered progressively that Tails is just as much a main character as the blue blur (especially later on). What can I say? The Undestined Future series left its mark on me, and I think every story I type will end up being a Sonic & Tails story to some extent, even if I've started to include other characters more. :)

Speaking of Tails:

CHAPTER 5: HIGHTAIL

"Wait here, if you don't mind," Espio said, opening the door to the Chaotix Detective Agency. "I'll be right back."

"Why don't you think he wants us to come in?" Amy asked once the ninja had closed the door behind him. "Does he have something to hide?"

Hundreds of confidential documents and probably a multitude of super-secret detective equipment, Tails mused to himself. "No offense, Amy, but can you try to relax a little? We're all on the same team, aren't we?"

At first, the hedgehog's eyes narrowed as if she was angered by Tails's gentle confrontation, but then she drew a deep breath. "Okay. I'm sorry. I guess I just get a little crazy sometimes when it comes to Sonic."

"But this really doesn't have to do with him. We're trying to figure out something about one of the Chaotix's clients, because I guess he's keeping his motives really secret. For some reason Espio thinks it's connected to something Eggman is up to, but he hasn't told me why yet." _If he even knows why himself._

"So why do you want me to come along, then?"

Tails tried to remember if he had explicitly said he wanted her to come along. He couldn't. "Well… actually!" he said, suddenly realizing something. "Could you do me a favor? I just remembered, I forgot my Chaos Emerald in the workshop!"

"You're not just saying that to get rid of me, now, are you?" Amy asked, grinning a little.

"No! Really, I'm not. I left it sitting in the Tornado, because I was using it to enhance this radar I created to help us find _more _Chaos Emeralds. I didn't even think to grab it, but with everything that's come up today, it wasn't a good idea to leave it there by itself."

"All right, I'm totally on it!"

"Thanks a lot, Amy! We'll catch up with you later, okay?"

"Okay," she said, running off. Espio returned a few seconds later.

"I don't like to sound rude," he said, "but I must admit I was hoping something like that would happen." He gestured with his head toward the pink speck in the distance that was Amy. "Would you like to come in?"

"Oh… you don't mind?"

"No. I was putting some files away, and had planned to invite you both in momentarily. I would not have had you wait if she had not been accompanying you. Her intentions are good, but her mouth is loud."

"Right, I understand," the fox said. "Client confidentiality and all that. I told her we'd catch up with her back at my workshop in a bit, though. Mind if we walk and talk instead?"

"Not at all."

"So I take it you found what you were looking for, right?"

"Yes. I don't have much at the moment, but take a look." The chameleon ran a finger under a line about a third of the way down the page. "I've already told you everything above this."

"'Client met with only Vector even for consultation,'" Tails read from the paper. "'Consultation overflowed past appointment time, implying detailed negotiation. Client wanted no contact with me whatsoever. No face-to-face interaction. Request was for Vector, and Charmy if he so desired, to guard an object client referred to as 'sacred relic.' Refused to specify the exact nature of this item, even to Vector, until he came to its location, Angel Island.' Angel Island… the Master Emerald?"

"You see why I am suspicious?"

"But… but the only person who lives there is Knuckles! There has to be a mistake. So you're saying Vector _told_ you it was Angel Island, right?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure there wasn't a misunderstanding?"

"I am as sure as I can be."

"But guarding the Master Emerald is Knuckles's duty," the fox protested. "He wouldn't hire someone to help him guard it. He wouldn't trust anyone to that. I know him!"

"What if there was somewhere he needed to go? Perhaps he has become aware of Meka Tower as well, and took it upon himself to do something about it?"

"Wait, Vector hasn't told you if the client remained there with him or not?"

"No," Espio said, irritation seeping into his otherwise calm voice. "The client didn't want him to tell me."

Tails thought. "Do you guys have any sort of policy that says members of the agency can trade information if necessary? Anything that protects you and Vector and Charmy?"

"Of course. But as I said, the capture of so many potential clients has caused our business to take a hit." He paused. "He was offering very generous compensation, enough to allow us to pay the bills comfortably again. We had to accept."

"Let's assume it's not Knuckles for a minute," Tails said. "What then?"

"Considering this case involves little to no detective work, it appears to me that the client wants to keep an eye on the agency for some reason. If this individual could stay out of Knuckles's sight, Angel Island is a very isolated place, and the agency would not be much of a threat to him or her from such a location… nor would anything, really."

"So wait, if there's a chance someone's trying to keep tabs on the agency, why wouldn't they want you there with Charmy and Vector?"

"Though most people do not know of my camouflage skill, my reputation as an expert martial artist has unfortunately become common knowledge. I tend to pose a greater threat to people than Vector or Charmy. Whoever this individual is has chosen to play it safe for the time being."

"I can see why you think it's connected to Eggman and the prison tower," Tails said. "This whole thing doesn't sit right with me either. Eggman _always_ wants the Master Emerald, so it wouldn't surprise me if this is somehow part of his plot. I know it's bad and all… but I think it's worth it to look into this at some point."

"So do I. But I do not have transportation to the sky island."

"Hah, that's where I come in," the fox said with a smile. "I'll fly you up there myself, that we won't draw attention with the Tornado!"

"Okay, but don't get ahead of yourself. I will need to keep communicating with Vector for a while. I want to learn as much as I can without intruding, just in case this client does turn out to be legitimate. If I still have reason to be suspicious after another week or two, we will investigate."

"Fair enough, and I'll keep working on my Chaos Emerald detector in the meantime. First, though, let me go back to my workshop and get you one of my communicators, so we can keep in touch about all this. Is that okay?"

"I was about to suggest the same thing myself."

"Great. I'll see you again soon, then!"

xxx

Amy glanced up at the clock in Tails's living room. It had been two hours.

"Well." She looked down, addressing the bright Chaos Emerald between her hands. "I'll just guard you like Knuckles guards the Master Emerald! Tails'll come back and be so relieved to see you safe!"

The Chaos Emerald didn't respond.

xxx

Tails had walked about half a block away from the Chaotix Detective Agency when he heard Espio shouting after him from a distance:

"Tails, _move!_"

Only in retrospect would he realize how uncharacteristically loud Espio's voice was in that moment. Espio rarely spoke without restraint, and never so frantically.

He was a mere centimeter away from finding out why. A dart whizzed past his face as he dodged, flicking the white fur on his cheek.

Espio ran to where it landed, picked it up, and snapped it in half. "It was a tranquilizer," he said, the stability returning to his tone as if it had never left. "If it would have hit you, you would have passed out cold on the sidewalk and woken up inside that prison."

"How…?"

"I decided it would be wise to follow you until you made it to the city's edge. The vast majority of the people missing have been taken from right here in Station Square. I should have mentioned that earlier."

"Wow… thanks. If you weren't there… Man, I need to start paying more attention to my surroundings."

"Yes," the chameleon said. "Indeed you do. Speaking of surroundings, the robot that shot that dart must still be hiding around here somewhere. It facilitates the job if they can knock their targets out, but don't underestimate their fighting power if it comes to that."

Tails turned around, so that the two were back to back. "Can you see it anywhere? Should we try to defeat it?"

"It depends on what kind it is. He replaced his old robots with the new wave he created for Meka Tower, but he hasn't phased them all out yet. I've seen a few of the old ones, but not many. We'll be lucky if it is."

"Are the new ones really powerful?"

"I haven't ventured close enough to one to find out, but the amount of people they've taken must say something."

"Oh… yeah…" the fox said tensely, looking around, seeing nothing. "Uh, they can't turn invisible too, can they?"

"Not that I'm aware of. But they're very inconspicuous. Even when I suspect they're around, I hardly ever actually see them."

Tails gasped. "Don't look now, but it's on top of the building I'm facing."

"Was the 'don't look now' proviso really necessary?"

"What should we do? You know more about these guys than—AHH!" Suddenly, the shining black humanoid was right in front of them. Tails was frozen to the spot momentarily. It had teleported.

After years of adventuring with Sonic, the fox's first instinct was to fight. He took to the air and made to dive-bomb the android's head, but it disappeared again and his feet slammed on the hard cement. He grunted, feeling the jolt of the impact throughout his whole body.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the robot coming at him. Not hesitating, he leapt into the air again, using his tails to propel him higher. The robot stood there confused for a moment, seeming to expect gravity to pull him back down. When that didn't happen, it shot itself into the air too. Tails swooped out of the way, catching a glimpse of the hover mechanism near its backside.

The robot wasn't going back down either.

"Tails… flee."

"What?" he asked, looking at his ally incredulously. "No! We have to defeat this thing so it doesn't capture more people!"

"It's replaceable," the chameleon said. "It doesn't matter if you defeat it. It'll matter even less if we get taken to Meka Tower."

Tails dropped down, narrowly avoiding the two arms trying to encircle him.

"See? He's not trying to harm you; he's trying to immobilize you so he can transport you there!"

"Unh!" Tails tumbled over himself in the air as he struggled to dodge the android's insistent attacks. In his frantic motions, the android managed to grasp one of his wrists. "Hey! Let go, let _go_!" He spun his namesakes as fast as he could, swinging his arm wildly, trying to shake the robot off. Its grip didn't even loosen. He was too high up now for Espio to help him.

The robot's three other limbs were striking at him furiously. He twisted around in the air, trying to evade and strike at the same time and not managing to do either. He felt the droid's cold grasp tighten further, then twist. The pain was sharp and instantaneous. "_Ahh!_" he cried out, trying to turn with the sudden pressure. The motion led his other arm closer to the droid, and it reached for him quickly, trying to get him under control. He pushed off its chest with his feet and spun his tails faster, increasing the strain on his twisted arm again but putting a larger cushion of distance between himself and the robot. Still, it didn't let go of the wrist it had managed to grab. It was all he could do to keep the rest of his body out of reach…

"Tails, try and come back down here so I can help you!" Espio called.

"I'm trying!" the fox said, tears forming at the bottom of his eyes, "Its flying capabilities are really strong! I don't know what to do!"

"Keep trying to pull away. Let me go get Charmy so he can fly me up there."

"No, no! Don't leave, please! I don't want you to not be able to find me!"

"Okay, okay," the chameleon said. "I'm not going anywhere. Try to calm down."

"It hurts… my arm, the bot hurt it…"

Espio looked around, trying to think of a way to reach the kid by using the environment to his advantage, but saw nothing to help him, no window of opportunity. The robot was hovering at least fifty feet up, and was too far from any building for him to reach even if he _could_ get to the top of one of the buildings. He could use his throwing knife – he always kept one in a pocket inside his glove – but then there was the risk of hitting Tails. As he watched the struggle overhead, Espio could think of only one solution. _If I can't reach him physically…_

"Tails. Fight like Sonic."

"Wh-what?" the fox stuttered in a watery voice, but Espio knew he had heard.

"Control your actions. Be brave."

For the briefest of moments they met eyes. Then the scared look on Tails's face turned into a fierce glare as he took that adrenaline-driven fright and directed it outward. As the fingertips of the robot's other hand brushed him, he flew backwards, barely managing to dodge and evening the distance between them again. The android pulled hard on the arm it already had, using it as leverage to bring himself closer to Tails. Not even wincing in pain, Tails ducked down and let the droid's momentum carry it over the spot he had just been, rotating himself so his arm wouldn't be twisted further in the process.

It was a precise, graceful movement. Everything happened slowly – or maybe his mind, so adrenaline-ridden and intensely focused, was just processing it faster.

With the robot still above him, he dropped his weight, spinning his tails only to steer him in the right direction. He didn't know what he was going for until he saw it: a restaurant with a huge front window right in his trajectory.

_Talk about a window of opportunity…_

He dove straight for it, then used his tails to slow at the last instant. The black android kept going, its momentum carrying it in front of Tails, and it crashed through the glass first. Robot and fox slid along the floor into chairs and tables, shards of the window raining down on them. People screamed.

He couldn't tell when, but somewhere in the chaos, the bot lost its grip.

"Sorry!" he said to the startled people around him, scrambling to his feet and rushing back out the obliterated window, pulling a sliver of glass out of his arm with a pained groan. Espio was already there when he landed outside.

"When I said 'fight like Sonic,' I was talking about the mindset, not the mass chaos."

"Well it worked either way! _Run!_"

"Like I said."

The low moan of the droid's processing mechanism could be heard behind them. They both veered off to opposite sides, knowing they needed to throw it off track. It deliberated for a moment and pursued Tails again, flames bursting out of its flight mechanism. The fox turned down an alley, following it around a building and using his tails to boost him over a fence. The android blasted right through it. Piece of wire shot by, cutting his back and arms and making a snag in one of his gloves. He gasped in quick shallow breaths as he continued running as fast as he could, using his tails for more speed. He turned again and heard the robot slam into the corner of the building with full force, causing chunks of brick to fly at him. One glanced off his shoe and he nearly tripped.

"Miles Prower, your capture is only a matter of moments. Surrender now and no one gets hurt. Continue resisting and the next attack won't miss."

Tails spun his namesakes as fast as he could, regaining speed. He made himself ignore the danger and possible consequences and put all his effort into outrunning the robot. Maybe he wasn't as fast as Sonic, but he was still fast, and the last thing he intended to do was surrender. Risking a glance over his shoulder, he saw that he was slowly gaining ground.

Just as he remembered how little that meant, the robot teleported and landed in front of him.

He ducked out of reach. The robot's hand brushed his ear. Fear gripped him again. No matter what he did, he could not evade this thing. Was it inevitable that he was going to end up in the prison?

No sooner had the possibility crossed his mind when Espio came out of nowhere, grasped him under the arms, and quickly rounded the next corner. It brought them to the back of the restaurant from before, and Espio threw them both into its recycle bin. It was all so fast that Tails didn't fully process it until he was nose-to-nose with the chameleon, sitting in a pool of empty pop bottles.

The minute that followed was long and tense. Slowly, the sound of the low hum emitting from the android grew quieter. Only when it was gone completely did either of them move a muscle.

"You can hide," Espio whispered, "but you can't run."

Tails let out a breath. "I'm guessing that was one of the newer models."

"Yes. It was from Eggman's Humanoid-series, or simply H-series. We are lucky we could hide. But don't let yourself think we can get away with these types of encounters. They are more dangerous than most of the minions Eggman has created in the past."

"Definitely." He looked at the blue walls surrounding them. "Well, good choice of hiding spot. I guess it could've been a dumpster."

"It is safe now," the detective said, climbing out. Tails followed suit, wiping droplets of flat pop off of himself.

"Thanks. I wasn't holding my own very well there."

"Not a problem. It was your first time fighting that kind of opponent." He glanced around, making sure it was safe. "You should return home with haste."

"Right." Tails took off at a quick pace toward the Mystic Ruins, this time keeping his environment in check. The possibility he had been trying to deny all along seeped into his mind now: Sonic could very well be trapped in the prison. The blue blur was one of the only people who would have been fast enough to escape those androids without hiding… but he was also one of the only people who would have refused to run away.

xxx

_"Sonic actually asked me for the first time to do something for him. I won't let him down. I won't give up!" –Tails, SA2_

xxx

_IN CHAPTER 6: Sonic and Lucas encounter trouble in a small package… more specifically, a dark chao. It turns out humans aren't the only creatures Eggman is attempting to manipulate. Discussion leads the two neighbors closer to the truth; will the truth in turn lead them closer to escape? Or must things always get worse before they get better?_

Gotta say, I found that chapter really fun to type. Not only for the fight and chase scene, but also because it's interesting exploring the interaction between characters who don't normally interact, like Tails and Espio.

Until next time, all! Thanks for reading, and feel free to comment!


	7. Chapter 6: Mutual Grudge

I'm feeling good about this chapter, but it's nothing huge. I kind of want to get it out of the way, to be honest, simply because I like faster-paced stories. I confess right now this chapter has a lot more setting-up and dialogue than it does action, kind of like chapter 4, but fortunately it should be the last of its kind, and it's all gonna be worthwhile soon enough. So bear with me for now. :) By the way, thanks for all the lovely support so far, guys. It's awesome to hear from ya.

Enjoy!

CHAPTER 6: MUTUAL GRUDGE

"Mmph."

I lurched awake at the sound of Sonic's aggravated groan. Since being captured, I had become a very light sleeper. Hardly surprising.

"Nngh, what's going on…? Ow! It's like the middle of—hey! _Hey_!"

I rubbed sleep out of my eyes, and dragged myself and my blanket up towards the front bars. On the way I noticed a stack of loose-fitting clothes; a solid red t-shirt and sweat pants. They must have been deposited in the cell between the gate bars. Despite the whole light-sleeping thing, I hadn't heard androids going by in the night. Still, in this instance I was grateful that they had been around. It was about time; I couldn't imagine staying in the same clothes much longer. Nor everyone else around me. Ew. I liked my black camisole and jeans, but not for so many days in a row…

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Lucas had been woken up too. He was in mid-stretch, facing the front of his cell… facing me. Immediately I ducked back down, but we had made solid eye contact. To my relief, he pretended not to notice me, probably because of my display of shyness; I hadn't exactly been subtle about it.

Sonic should have seen me by now, should have realized there was indeed a person in the cell across from him. Over the course of the last week, there had been a multitude of times I was certain I had gotten caught. Most of the time it was at night, since I did a better job of keeping myself inconspicuous during the day. Still, despite the darkness, most people would have seen me, as Lucas had just proven. I wondered if hedgehogs had bad vision, then realized that they probably did, since the quadruped species anyway were mostly burrowers.

But whatever.

In the cell across from me, Sonic was dodging something about a fourth of his size floating in the air in front of him. After squinting at it for a moment, I realized it was a dark-aligned chao. I'd heard of different types of chao before but had only ever seen the common blue-and-yellow ones. This one was dark green, almost black, with lighter green paws. There were angled spikes on his head, one on the left and one on the right. They both pointed upward and outward, save for their tips, which curved back down slightly. The thing was evil-looking and creepy, but somehow inherently cute at the same time.

His small wings fluttered quickly as he flew away from Sonic's reach, folding his arms arrogantly as only a dark chao could.

"What gives?" the hedgehog asked. "Why'd you wake me up?"

In response, the chao stuck its tongue way out and made the raspberry sound. I saw Sonic flinch as though he had been spat on in the process. His bedroll and blanket were on the floor in a tangled heap. I wondered if he had accidentally tangled them up trying to escape when the chao startled him, or if the chao himself had been responsible. Despite how irritated the hedgehog was, I found it kind of amusing. Maybe the poor thing was just trying to lighten things up.

"Kai, I didn't say to wake him up _now_," someone said. Just as I realized it was an android, it walked right in front of my cell. I ducked frantically, mashing myself against the back of the door. Thankfully, it was already facing the direction of Sonic's cell, and didn't detect me. "Come back here, the machine is not even ready for Sonic yet." Machine? _That _sounded really reassuring. Sonic opened his mouth, probably to ask the question I was thinking, but the android was still talking. "Kai, you must stop being so impulsive. Doctor Eggman will not train you more if you can't control yourself. When I said you should go wake Sonic right now, it was merely a joke at his expense."

Looking disappointed and a little embarrassed, the chao, apparently called Kai, squeezed back out through the bars and followed the android away. I wished I was small enough to slide through the bars like that. Figuring the interruption was over, I snuggled up in my blankets again and tried to go back to sleep.

Ten minutes later, the red daytime lights turned on. Lucas and I both moaned irritably. After a few moments, I heard a few other prisoners chatting softly. If I had still been asleep, I _might _have slept through it, but there was no hope now. I laid there awake, trying to tune into their conversation, but they must have been in cells that were a bit further away, because I couldn't decipher it. As if being awake wasn't bad enough, now I was faced with boredom, too.

"So, anybody got any good campfire songs?" Sonic asked in a not-so-quiet voice, making me jump. On second thought, maybe boredom wasn't such a bad alternative.

He was pacing back and forth, all evidence of fatigue gone from his posture. He obviously had not gone back to sleep. Unsurprisingly, no one replied to his question.

"Why are you guys all so _quiet?_" There was the first sign of frustration in his voice. "If you have to be stuck in here, don't you want to at least, y' know, _talk _now and then?"

"It's six in the morning," someone muttered.

"Hm, so I'm just the noisy neighbor getting you guys up early?" His voice adopted a different tone. "You're happy sleeping here, then?"

"Maybe _someone _should get us out," the voice said, and I realized it was one of the people who had been whining about Sonic the other night. There were only a select few people who seemed determined to blame him for everything, but they were also the most vocal, and I could tell it was irritating Sonic. He growled under his breath, then got to his feet.

"Hey, I'm _right here!_" he said loudly. "And if you think you can free everyone before I can, don't be shy in _trying!_"

"Oohhh," the man said with a mocking chuckle. Though none of us could see his face – he was several cells down the hall – I could picture his expression in my mind's eye. "Classic comeback."

"Don't mind him, Sonic," Lucas said, regarding the hedgehog irritably. "He's been an ass since he got here. Just one of those kinds of people."

There was a quiet rumble of aggravated chatter as tensions rose in the hallway. On one hand I wanted to agree with Lucas, but on the other, I wasn't exactly fond of Sonic either. What had been the point in feeding an argument so early, anyway? Did he really think he had the ability to change anyone's mind, or make people want to do something about the circumstances? There was nothing anyone _could _do, even if they wanted to.

Either way, the only effect it had on me was an intense desire to stick something in my ears. I didn't want to consider this hellhole my home any more than anyone else, but we were trapped. We were _trapped_. All he was doing was rubbing it in.

I watched an android walk past Sonic's cell and then Lucas's, coming to a stop before the next set of conjoined cells. On the span of wall in between there was a spot that wasn't supposed to be there, some kind of stain or scratch. The android brought a hand up to it, and I noticed the limb was different than those of most of the other guard androids. Its hand acted as a nozzle, spraying water on the mark through holes in its fingertips until the mark disappeared.

It was ironic that it probably took Eggman more work to craft such a device than it would have to simply wipe such a mark away himself. It wasn't like the hallways got all that dirty; nobody was allowed to travel them save for the androids.

"So anyway, that must've been the annoying chao you were talking about," Sonic said to Lucas, stretching his legs.

"Lately you've become more of an annoyance than him," the human remarked, but there was a telltale glint of humor in his eyes.

"Hey – _he's _the one who woke everybody up," the hedgehog said, nodding his head to the side as if gesturing to Kai, even though the chao was long gone.

"Correction, he woke _you _up. And your bitching woke everybody else up."

"Yeah, yeah," Sonic said. "Y' know, sometimes I think you just _want _me to think you don't like me."

"I don't…!" Lucas hesitated, glaring at him.

"Can't say it, can ya?"

"Oh, piss off," Lucas muttered with a grin.

"Would have done _that _a few weeks ago if I could've."

"And you said you wouldn't be in here for long. What happened to that, hm?"

Sonic crossed his arms. "You always have to have the last word, don't you?"

"Hah. I could say the same about you."

"Still… I can't believe I've been stuck in this place for _weeks_ now. Starting to feel like I've been here my whole life, and not in a good way. Time to figure something out."

"I've heard _that _statement before."

Something about Sonic's face changed. A bit of the humor fell away. "You're starting to sound like that guy!" he said. "I'm making an _effort_, aren't I?"

Lucas grew defensive, dark eyebrows curving downward and casting shadows over his inset eyes. "Hey. I've been here longer than you have. Once you've been here for as long as I have, then come back and let me know if you're still as optimistic."

"Comparisons, comparisons. You could say you have it worse than I do all you want, and I could turn it around and rub in how much better my situation apparently is. But are we really going to take the conversation in this direction?"

Lucas glared. "No. I don't need to validate my situation against yours to understand its significance."

"Then you just _in_validated your own point!" The blue blur grinned, like usual. In response, the dark look on Lucas's faces melted away a little. "Besides, does it change anything? We still need to figure out a way out of here."

"I think we need to communicate more. Know what just occurred to me? Some of the people around us don't even realize who you are yet, because they can't _see _you from their cells. I mean, this hallway knows, but this floor is so much bigger than that… and the prison as a whole, even bigger. You _know _I hate to say it, but… maybe it'll boost peoples' spirits knowing you're in here with them? I mean… people… believe in you, and stuff."

Sonic sat back, looking flattered but not surprised by this information. "I think we need to fight back as best as we can from in here, and let that speak for itself. There has to be a way we can slow Eggman down. I mean, if we could just kill some of the robots… they're the ones who do all the work, anyway, not him."

"So let's talk to the people around us. Let them know who you are and see if they have any ideas. I want to do something about this, too."

"Was just waiting for you to say so," Sonic said, winking. I was beginning to wonder if that eye had a twitch. "First things first, though. I still don't understand why Eggman has a _chao._ I mean, the only place around here where chao colonize is that garden island near Central City. There aren't that many there, either, so it almost seems like it would have been more trouble than it's worth."

"There's also that one room in the Station Square hotel," Lucas added. "I've stayed there before. They keep a few chao in an area on one of the floors."

"At any rate… chao are cute and all, but what's the point?"

"I think it's because chao are so malleable. Sounds crazy, but think about it. They trust people so easily initially, their alignment changes visibly when they're around the people that influence them. You can practically _shape _them. Eggman probably…"

"…Knew that he could take advantage of them," Sonic finished, clenching a fist. "And their bodies evolve to match their best skills, so Eggman could train them to his own benefit and treat them like slaves."

"With enough numbers," Lucas continued, "he probably figures they'd be great tools to fight resistance. And he's probably right."

I heard Sonic growl low in his throat. It was unlike anything I had ever heard from him. It was vicious, furious, and stubborn. For the first time, I believed he would get us out of here, even if I only believed it for an instant.

"Where are all the other ones?" Sonic asked, even though we all knew at this point.

"Locked away," Lucas said, "like us, as far as I know. Could search the whole prison without ever seeing one, though, since this place is so huge. I don't think there are many, just because there was never a high population of chao in this area anyway. But I guess Kai gets to fly around at his own leisure. Seems like he's Eggman's sidekick or something. Little bastard never lets me get any sleep at night." Lucas met Sonic's eyes. "Never noticed, did you?"

The blue blur shook his head.

"That's because he always makes sure everyone around is sleeping, especially you. I told you in the beginning to watch out for him but I don't even know if you heard me."

"So _that's_ why you hate him so much?" Sonic said, trying not to look amused. "I mean, yeah, Kai's annoying to me too, but that's about all I can say for the little guy."

"You weren't here for the first month," Lucas said, as if that explained everything. When that didn't seem to suffice, he went on reluctantly. "Kai was responsible for getting me captured."

Now _that _explained a lot.

"Whoa," Sonic said. "Are you kidding?" My sentiments exactly, though I of course did not say so.

"I told you… he's Eggman's sidekick. Eggman can't send his androids out into the world to determine which people are the right ones to capture, can he? They'd stand out too much. But like I was telling you, he wants the fittest, most coordinated people. So he sent chao out to observe, and find easy targets, like people who were alone. Then they communicated with the androids about the most inconspicuous ones to go after, and the most capable…"

Capable of _what_, I kept wondering. Sonic's explanation had been that he was creating a human army, and that opposing forces (like himself) would be less inclined to fight back against Eggman if it meant taking human lives. But that didn't mesh with me. If Eggman wanted to make an army out of the people in Meka Tower, if it was that simple… why were we all still sitting here?

"Chao are 'innocent,'" Lucas continued on snidely, making quotation marks with his fingers as he said innocent. "No one would suspect them of anything. Unlike robots, they can spy on people without being noticed or seen in a negative light. Then, when the time is right, the androids can capture the people Eggman and his chao think are good candidates." He sighed, his anger downgrading to something more like disappointment. "I wasn't going to tell you that part before… it's embarrassing, admitting I'm in here because of a stupid chao. But then, so are a lot of other people, probably. And I guess if there's any chance you can do anything about this, you should know everything."

Sonic shook his head. I couldn't tell if he looked upset, incredulous, or both. There were so many things he wanted to say in that moment; the evidence was in his expression. Instead, he urged for more of Lucas's story. "So that's why you don't like Kai," he summarized. "But Kai doesn't seem to like you much either. He picks on you more than anyone else around, as far as I can tell."

"Sonic," Lucas said, and actually turned to face him, "I know you probably can't tell now, but when I first got here, I was just a lot like you. For a while – all these people in this hallway here? – they loved me for it, even though I wasn't able to _do _anything. Just the things I said to the androids, and even Eggman whenever he came around… it was fuel for the fire. Remember how I told you Eggman put the best of us up here, because we were the ones most likely to try and escape? We _did _try and escape. People tried to trick androids into opening their cells, much like you did right after you got here. A few people managed to get out into the hallway, even, before the androids realized they were being played."

"So… Kai doesn't like you because you were the one causing the most trouble."

Lucas nodded. One corner of his mouth twisted up a little. He was trying to hide the grin, but it was still visible. Sonic saw it too, and smiled.

"Good reason to be hated," he said, "if you gotta be hated. I think it's about time we started acting like 'the best' again."

Lucas gave the slightest of nods, then made a look like he hadn't meant to express his agreement outwardly.

xxx

"So," Vector the crocodile said simply, expression all-business as he crossed his arms. He and Charmy squinted in the midst of the Master Emerald's light; Knuckles did not. "You've got me curious, Knuckles. Why are we helping you babysit this thing? It ain't even detective work, you know."

"But it's work that pays," Knuckles reminded him, shooting him a look. Vector understood. It was part of their policy to be open-minded and not turn down work for anyone if it wasn't illegal.

"I suppose, yeah, but can't I be curious? I'm a detective, after all. It's kinda part of me."

"Yeah," added the bee next to him, wings buzzing obnoxiously as the forefront of the noise in that particular area of Angel Island. "And we're offering you our services, so you're s'pposed to tell us what's going on. I mean, I thought you were an honest guy, Knux? Aren't ya?"

Knuckles turned away, closing his eyes. "Fine, then, here's honesty for you: I can't tell you everything. You wouldn't understand. But I have history with you two and the rest of the Chaotix… you're the only ones I can trust."

Vector and Charmy exchanged a glance behind his back. The latter shrugged with an I-don't-know hum, and then started flying around the Master Emerald's shrine curiously. Sometimes Vector wondered if letting that kid hang out with the Chaotix detectives was such a good idea.

"If we're the only ones you can trust," Vector continued quietly, "that just brings me back to my original question: why can't you tell us what's going on?"

Knuckles glared at him. "I hired you, here. I'm not required to explain myself. I'd appreciate it if you dropped the subject."

xxx

_"As long as the person holding the Emeralds can control them, and knows how to use them, nothing can go wrong." –Sonic Rush_

xxx

…But then, seems like quite a few of the wrong people could get their hands on the Chaos Emeralds. You should never, ever say 'nothing can go wrong.' ;)

IN THE NEXT CHAPTER… Tails takes initiative on his own, and catches signals leading not only to Sonic's lost communicator, but another Chaos Emerald as well. His journey brings him to a place he hasn't seen since Sonic had been framed by Shadow earlier that year…

Will be up soon! See ya next time!


	8. Chapter 7: Missing in Action

sonamylover111: Hey again! Thanks so much for your comments so far. Yeah, I love Espio too - and he ended up in this story a lot more than I first thought he'd be! You'll see more of him as this progresses. Glad you liked the scene too and that you're enjoying this so far. Thanks! :)

Well, I've gotten far enough into this story that I can confidently say I'll be updating almost every week. I don't think I've updated so frequently so consistently in, like, five years. 0.o Itching to get into the thick of the plot with this one!

Enjoy. :)

CHAPTER 7: MISSING IN ACTION

Tails strapped his communicator around his wrist and activated it. He ran out to the Tornado, leaped in the cockpit, and took off, denying himself the opportunity to change his mind. He was tired of waiting. Sonic's silence had gone beyond the point of mere silence now. It was time to find him and figure out what was going on.

If Espio wanted his assistance anytime soon, the fox reasoned that he would have to wait. No matter what, he had to put Sonic first, not only because he knew Sonic would do the same for him but because he had a feeling the blue blur was going to be needed in the near future. Everything that had happened lately was unsettling, and he could just feel it: Eggman was involved.

Despite the familiarity that acknowledgment usually held, something was vastly different this time. The situation felt sinister. For as intelligent as he was, Eggman had made a regular habit of revealing his plans to them, as if bragging of their flawlessness. So his silence alone said it all. The evil scientist was risking nothing at the expense of _this _plan, and had no intentions to fail one more time.

Tails had let himself relax in Sonic's absence, subconsciously thinking everything was okay simply because nothing terrible was occurring directly around him. Now he realized that this apparent normalcy in fact implied the opposite. Eggman had _never _kept a low profile for so long… that he was doing so now implied he was working on something huge behind the scenes, keeping quiet so his plans would not be interfered with.

Indeed, things were far from okay.

It was unnerving, facing circumstances for which he had no basis of knowledge. Circumstances that truly were unpredictable.

Circumstances that Sonic excelled in, thrived in. Circumstances the blue blur would want to involve himself with. Circumstances under which he would be _compelled _to fight. So why wasn't he around? He was _always _around when he was needed.

Tails's stomach lurched as the truth of the matter hit him fully for the second time. Sonic could be locked away or worse. Why hadn't he considered that possibility before? Had he just _wanted _to believe his best friend was okay?

He sighed deeply. Sonic would not have hesitated if he thought the safety of one of his friends was compromised, yet when he was the one in danger, no one sought him out.

If he let himself, the fox would have felt overwhelmingly ashamed. But he knew better than to let his conscience get to him now. The most important thing was to act, and do his best to make things right.

His communicator beeped twice. He raised his wrist to look at it, and saw that he was picking up a signal from one of its counterparts. Espio, he thought to himself, since he was flying right over Station Square. He needed to find the signal of the one Sonic had been wearing.

Resting his hand in his lap, he swerved back toward the Mystic Ruins, this time aiming towards the jungle. Beyond that jungle was the series of sand dunes Espio had discovered weeks ago… the home of Meka Tower. It was the last place he wanted to associate himself with. But he knew he didn't even have to approach it. All he had to do was pick up the signal of Sonic's communicator, if it was indeed there.

Tails hoped it wasn't. If it was, that meant Sonic was trapped there. Sonic hated captivity almost as much as he hated water; the only difference was that it wasn't fear fueling his resentment, it was oppression. He couldn't stand being stuck in one place, couldn't stand having his freedom restricted in any way.

"Hang in there, Sonic," the fox whispered to himself. "Hang in there."

The beeps sounded before he was even beyond the jungle. He cringed. They became increasingly louder, insistent, demanding him to go down and investigate. He had told himself he would confirm the situation and get out of there instead of risking being too close to the prison, but he couldn't stand the mixture of dread and anticipation welling up within him. He had to know for sure, so he would know what to do about it either way.

When Tails landed the plane, he could still see the trees, despite the sandy fog surrounding him. His communicator was going crazy, so he turned it off. There was a black speck not ten yards away. He jogged to it anxiously, and was about to scoop it up in his hands, when he noticed a small but frightening detail he hadn't expected to see.

Blood.

In the mood he was in, the worst came to mind before any other alternative. For a second he felt nauseous, but he told himself to calm down and view the situation for what it was, like Sonic would.

There was dried blood on the communicator, but only a few short streaks, as if Sonic had sustained some minor injury while fighting. As he suggested that scenario to himself, he realized that was probably exactly what had happened. His stomach began to unknot itself. It was true that Sonic was probably trapped in Meka Tower, and that was bad, but it was a level of bad he had already braced himself for. Now, at least, he could be reasonably sure the reason Sonic hadn't been responding wasn't because he had been harmed or killed. His communicator had merely broken off in the middle of a battle.

He swept up the wristlet and examined it. Only the closing mechanism on the strap had been damaged, which was why Sonic was no longer wearing it. The face of the device was still lit up and appeared to function just fine. He wondered why Sonic wouldn't have taken it with him and shoved it in his quills, or something.

As soon as the thought occurred to him, so did the likely answer. He never had a _chance _to pick it back up once it had been broken, because he had been taken to Meka Tower. He had lost the fight.

Heart pounding, he ran back to the Tornado and revved it up. Things could have been a lot worse, he knew, but they could be a lot better. He told himself that Sonic would be fine, he could take care of himself.

Adventure had introduced itself into their lives again, just as the blue blur had said it would. But it was far from the way Tails had wanted. He wondered if Sonic shared that sentiment.

Next time he saw Espio, he would inform him of everything, and see if they could piece together any connections. For now, he knew he had to find and protect the Chaos Emeralds before Eggman could. It was up to him, whether he liked it or not. The fox realized he could handle that responsibility. He was ready for it. He had been trained by the best.

_Just wait, Eggman… you'll be surprised what one little fox can do._

xxx

The fox's search lasted nearly two days before he was rewarded for his efforts. Even then, it was only with a broken, unsteady beeping sound coming from the Tornado's radar. He had been flying around in silence for so long that it made him jump.

Hopes rising, he looked down at the screen. There was a bright speck on it that disappeared as soon as he took it in. A few seconds passed. It reappeared not far from where it had been before, then began sporadically bouncing around that corner of the screen.

As he got closer, the radar seemed to steady itself, finally deciding at which set of coordinates the Chaos Emerald was located. It was only a few miles outside where he had searched yesterday. He realized that if he had brought the Emerald Amy was holding for him, he would have been able to detect the signal a lot faster. But with everything he had learned, he knew better than to keep the valuable gems on his person.

Tails descended the plane, breaking through the thick clouds and revealing the location of the Chaos Emerald. It was an island, or rather, a _mess _of an island. To him, it looked as though the place had been blown up, and the debris had just rained back down in a broken pile…

_Wait._

"Prison Island!" the fox said in quiet wonder. He looked at the remnants of buildings, the fallen trees, and the toxic waste in the surrounding oceans. Nearly half a year ago, Eggman had been there to seize several Chaos Emeralds, which had been held by the military unit G.U.N. at the time. He had wanted them for the Eclipse Cannon, so that he could pose a threat to the world and attempt to gain their surrender. After taking them, he had blown up G.U.N.'s research facility and prison.

Prison Island was also where Sonic had been taken after being framed for robbery. It was the only other time he had been held captive anywhere. And even then it had taken a hell of a lot of effort from the military to keep him there for the short time they had. Tails couldn't even fathom the security of Meka Tower if Sonic hadn't managed to break out yet.

As he got closer, he could make out what looked like a small opening in the rocky ground. Considering that Prison Island had belonged to G.U.N. before the explosion, he imagined it was some kind of secret underground passage. Regardless of its purpose before, though, the fox had a strong feeling the Chaos Emerald was down there…

He was just touching down when something smashed into the side of the Tornado, making it jerk. He veered away reflexively, running the plane into huge mound of rain-sodden ashes. Mechanical footsteps chased after him. Hearing their approach, Tails took to the air, flying out of their reach before they could get to him.

He looked down. They were the same androids that had chased him and Espio.

"Oh, _stop _chasing everything you see. This is just a frightened animal. He is of no use to Master Eggman anyway."

Discreetly, Tails allowed himself to descend, watching them watch him. He got as close to the ground as he dared while staying out of their reach.

"No! This is another high priority target. There was a mission to capture him a little over a week ago, but they failed. Think of the rewards we will get if we are the ones to capture him! Perhaps Master Eggman will promote us to the top floor, to help guard Sonic!"

"You talk too much," the other android mumbled.

"I already knew he was in there!" Tails broke in. "And I'm _not _coming down now, you know. So you won't have much luck capturing me."

"Is that so? Well, you cannot stay up there forever, Miles Prower. Suppose we total your airplane. Do you plan on flying tens and tens of miles to get back on normal land?"

Tails bit his lip. He hadn't considered that. But maybe he could use the situation to his advantage…

"Actually, I bet you couldn't even destroy that thing if you tried," the fox taunted, hoping his grin made him look more confident than he was.

"You obviously do not know us very well yet," replied one of the androids. They both turned their backs, running towards the Tornado.

And without hesitation, Tails dove into the hole in the ground. He was out of sight long before they turned their attention back to where he had been.

It was easier than he had expected it to be to escape their gaze. He supposed that was likely the _reason _they weren't amongst the androids on the top floor of Meka Tower.

He found himself inside a low-ceiling tunnel with concrete walls. It was broken in areas, revealing dirt and rock behind it. He wondered if it was stable. It certainly didn't look like it, but then, it had withstood several months' time, hadn't it?

Either way, the fox knew he had to start searching, especially if he wanted to get back to the Tornado before it was destroyed. The plane was resilient, but it wasn't invulnerable. He flew forward and rounded a corner, going into a small room within the underground structure.

There it was.

Right in the center of the room, floating unnaturally a few inches off the ground, was the Chaos Emerald. Compared to its dim surroundings, the relic was like a small sun, lighting up a circular radius. He squinted as he approached it, then wrapped his hands around it, lifting it up.

Only then, when the blinding brightness was encased by his fingers, did he see the two androids standing inconspicuously in the far corners of the room.

"About time we had an intruder," one of them said. "I was getting somewhat bored."

They both began walking towards him. Tails backed up, clutching the Emerald to his chest, glaring at them.

"You see, we have already secured this Chaos Emerald and are waiting for Master Eggman to arrive and retrieve it himself. If I were you, I would not want to be here when he shows up. Drop the Emerald where it was, and we will allow you to leave peacefully."

Tails hesitated. "Wait… you guys aren't going to try and capture me?"

"Why should we? Master Eggman has filled Meka Tower almost completely now. Our job is to protect this Chaos Emerald."

"Hold up one second," said the android's partner. "Let me see if I can find a way to change my brightness setting and see better. If I'm not mistaken, this intruder matches Master Eggman's description of a certain priority target quite closely…"

Just then, the two androids from minutes ago stepped into the room, stopping a few feet behind where the fox stood. His heart dropped into his stomach.

"You would be correct," one of the voices from behind him said. "This is in fact Miles Prower, friend and fighting comrade of Sonic the hedgehog. What's wrong, Miles? Did you suppose we fell for that pathetic escape attempt? Once we discerned your identity, it was not hard to guess that you would come in here seeking the Chaos Emerald. Your cleverness is outmatched, dear fox."

"One moment, you three," said one of the androids in the corner. "This target has escaped the grasp of Robotnik Corporation androids before. We should not treat this situation lightly."

Tails couldn't decide which idea was more counter-intuitive: staying still, or making a run for it. Both seemed futile. He couldn't run – they were surrounding him. He couldn't stay still for the same reason.

"What do you propose, then?"

"I propose that we allow him to escape for the time being, assuming he gives us the Chaos Emerald. We could always attempt to capture him again some other day. The Chaos Emerald is of much higher value to Master Eggman than he is. We do not want to risk Miles escaping with the Chaos Emerald, just as much as Miles here does not want to risk _trying _to escape and getting trapped in the prison. Both parties here will be able to leave without those uncertainties if we negotiate. Is that fair, Miles?"

"I don't like when you call me Miles," the fox mumbled under his breath.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Nothing," he said self-consciously.

"Do we have a deal, then?"

Tails wondered what Sonic would do, not only because Sonic was virtually his older brother, but because he tended to be good at situations like this. Then he remembered that the last time Sonic had been in a compromising situation like this, he had gotten sealed in an ejection pod and launched into space to die.

His hands were still grasping the Chaos Emerald tightly, blocking off most of its intense glow. The android in front of him, off to the right, had said a few minutes ago that it was adjusting its vision to the darkness to see their intruder better. If that was true…

It was worth a shot. If growing up with Sonic had taught him anything, it was to never give in.

Tails removed one of his hands from the Chaos Emerald, shining its light in the android's night-adapted eyes. Not waiting to find out the result, he leaped over the android, nearly hitting his head on the low ceiling, and landed on the other side.

The other three were already at his tails. One of their hands brushed his shoulder as he made a u-turn around the room and darted back through the tunnel. He pushed himself off the ground and propelled himself out of the opening, into the air. He was almost high enough to feel safe when he felt a cold grip around his ankle.

The android jerked him back down. Not abandoning his grip on the Chaos Emerald, Tails hit the ground hard with the same shoulder the android in Station Square had twisted not too long ago, unable to break his fall. The resulting jolt made him cry out in pain, but it also made the robot let go. The rain had made its grasp slippery.

Tails scrambled up and ran for the Tornado, spinning his namesakes behind him to increase speed. It seemed to take an eternity to reach it, but finally, he did, the clanking footsteps following closely behind him. He tossed the Chaos Emerald to the bottom of the cockpit, then threw the plane into reverse and accelerated as fast as he could.

There was one explosion as he ran over the unfortunate android that was closest. Then two. Three. Four.

The fox moaned at first with relief, then with discomfort as the pain in his shoulder settled in. He moved it back in forth, then in a circle, testing for injury. It hurt, but it functioned. Good enough.

It was raining harder. Tails reached down with his free hand and picked up the Chaos Emerald, holding it tightly again, then increased the plane's speed. The flight would only be fifteen minutes or so, but it looked stormy, and Tails did _not _want to be in the air when lightning struck.

He tried to focus on the Chaos Emerald, and how great it was that he had managed to escape with it. Normally, he was the one in the background, always watching Sonic or Knuckles take the risks while he coordinated them. It felt good to be the one _doing _something. He had defeated the androids and retrieved the Chaos Emerald, and he hadn't given up, even though he had almost paid for it.

Somewhere in the back of his mind was the thought that Sonic would be proud of him if he had been around to witness the whole thing. He was beyond the point where he needed the blue blur's praise, but Sonic was – and always would be – his best friend and older brother. Therefore, his opinion would always hold some value to him.

Just as Tails began to relax, there was lightning in the distance.

"No," he said aloud, "not now, not now. I'll be home in ten minutes, just wait ten minutes…"

More lightning. Then the thunder caught up to both strikes. Tails cringed. He had to land… but there _was_ no land!

Just hurry, he thought to himself. Just stay calm and hurry back to the workshop.

He drew a breath, let it fill his lungs, released it. It was just a storm, he reasoned. What were the chances he would be struck in the ten minutes it would take to get back from here? He could make it. He was a good pilot; he could ride with the wind. He could make it.

Despite his musings only moments ago, Tails couldn't help but think of Sonic. If it was Sonic, and he was faced with something he feared… _he _would make it, wouldn't he?

Naturally, he remembered the day they had found the first Chaos Emerald in the pond. Sonic had wanted him to go retrieve it instead of going into the water himself, even though it wasn't very deep.

That day had been so pleasant and fun at the time, but the memory of it rubbed Tails the wrong way. Sonic had shown reluctance that day. For the first time, his best friend wasn't a source of encouragement, but of uncertainty.

He pushed the thought from his mind. It didn't matter. All that mattered was that _he _had to face his fears and get back home. He had no choice anyway, and he reasoned that even if he did, he didn't always need Sonic's example to know what had to be done. He had proven that many a time already.

xxx

"_I've changed a lot since I started hanging out with Sonic, but I can't depend on him forever. I know I can do this by myself!" –Tails, Sonic Adventure_

xxx

IN CHAPTER 8: Tensions arise between Tails and Espio, and Amy brings to light a difficult truth. Meanwhile in Meka Tower, Lucas finally lets his circumstances get to him, and takes it out on a certain young chao…

See ya soon! Happy reading/writing! Feel free to comment and stuff.


	9. Chapter 8: Facade

Glad to get this one out there today; I almost didn't have time to put it up right now, especially since there were a few little tweaks I wanted to make beforehand. Hereyago. :)

CHAPTER 8: FAÇADE

Espio stared down his target, knife in hand, eyes wide in focus.

It was a still target. Not the most difficult of opponents, all things considering. What made it difficult was that he had to hit the perfect spot. Right in the middle. Anything else would be failure.

Right in the middle.

It was tempting him, taunting him.

He could waste no more time thinking about it. He had to act – now.

The knife hit the practice board with sharp precision and a brief thud, its lethal tip sticking in the soft material.

A second later, there was a series of insistent knocks on the front door. If he had waited to strike, the distraction certainly would have caused him to miss. That was something to think about; distractions. He needed to practice in the presence of distractions more often, and hone his focus.

"Charmy… why did you knock?" came Vector's low, ragged voice. "We _live _here!"

"Oh, just thought I'd see if I could catch the _ninja _off-guard for a change," the young bee said playfully, lacing his hands behind his head even though he was in midair.

"Nice to see you guys, too," Espio muttered, pulling his knife out of the board and sheathing it in its compartment at the front of his glove. "About time you returned. I was beginning to wonder if you'd made Angel Island your new home."

"Why so grumpy, Espio?" Vector asked. "We're not BFFs with him, you know. It's our job!"

"'Our' job, collectively? Or yours?"

"Well, mine, I guess, in this case…" the crocodile scratched his nose awkwardly, then his eyes regained their spark as he finally thought up material to retaliate with. "Why, you jealous or something?"

"No. You're the one working and paying the bills right now. That gives me more time to train and do whatever else I desire, so it seems to me that if anyone should be jealous, it's you."

Vector sighed. Espio did too.

"So how is your mission going, anyway?" the chameleon asked after a moment.

"Good, but weird. I know he's a client, not a suspect, but I'm findin' myself trying to figure out what's wrong with this situation."

"I'd be concerned if you weren't," Espio said. "Assisting in guarding the Master Emerald is not the type of task that would regularly be asked of a detective agency."

"No kidding. I mean, we're not even detecting. Don't treat me like I'm stupid, Espio, I know there's something going on too! I just don't wanna back out of this. We need the money, and we wouldn't look very credible if we backed out of somethin' we signed on to do."

Espio snorted, crossing his arms. "You signed a contract to help this client without asking him about his intentions, and without any detective work being involved at all. I don't think you're in a place to consider yourself credible right _now_."

"Hey, back off. You know how hard we've got it right now. I had to do what I had to do." Having argued their respective points, both members of the agency fell silent for a moment. Then Vector asked, "Did you tell Tails who it was yet?"

"No. I pretended that I didn't know yet, either. I didn't want to deceive him but we need to treat this situation carefully."

"I'm starting to rethink our confidentiality policies, Espio. I mean, if someone makes us think they're dangerous, even a client, shouldn't we be able to investigate them, too?"

"I hear that argument frequently enough from the inside of my head, and I am no closer to an answer, so let's discuss ethics later. Would you prefer if I told Tails everything, or not?"

Vector considered. "Yes," he answered after a moment. "He's the only one we've been able to find who knows Knuckles better than we do. If he's in on this, he can help us figure it out. Our detective work can only go so far, but Tails knows him personally."

"Right. He may be able to see things that we can't."

They heard another knock at the door. "Speak of the devil," Vector muttered with a grin. "I'll go do somethin' else so you can talk to him. Come on, Charmy."

"But—"

"Come _on_!"

There was a cacophony of arguing and why nots as the two left the room. Espio opened the door. Tails was standing there, as he expected.

"Sorry to come unannounced," the fox said, as though he had just realized this fact. His fur was wet from the rain, and the Tornado was in the driveway. He looked tired, and a little spooked for a reason Espio couldn't attribute to anything, but otherwise okay. "I found another Chaos Emerald, but I don't know where to go from here. Right now I'm waiting on some new software to download that I'm installing into the radar, that way I can transfer a little of the Chaos Emeralds' energy to it and strengthen its ability. When it's done downloading, it'll facilitate finding more Emeralds, but I didn't want to just do nothing while—"

"Please come in," Espio interrupted, swinging the door open all the way. "There is a lot we should talk about. I propose that we go to Angel Island soon."

"I have a lot to talk to you about, too," Tails said, holding up Sonic's communicator. "By using my own communicator in conjunction with the radar system on the Tornado, I managed to find this in the sand dunes. It's damaged but it still functions. Sonic must have lost it in battle, which is why he wasn't responding all this time."

"Well, it is good to know there isn't a _worse _reason why he wasn't responding."

"Yeah. But the thing is, I think he's in that prison. I wasn't too far from it when I found this. That's probably exactly where he got captured, because if he had been free, he would have picked up the communicator after he lost it, right?"

Espio made a face. "Unless it got buried in the sand. He simply might not have been able to find it."

Tails's expression betrayed that he had not thought of that. There was hope in his eyes. Maybe Sonic _was _still free, and had simply left his communicator behind…

"Oh," the fox said, ears falling a little. "But I ran into robots when I found this Chaos Emerald. I heard one of them say they wanted to get promoted so they could help guard the top floor where Sonic is. Aw, I forgot about that. You got my hopes up for a minute."

The chameleon met his eyes with something like disappointment. "I apologize. I didn't mean to suggest he might have been free, merely the sand may have been another reason he did not recover the communicator. That detail is insignificant for now, but it's always better to know little things like that just in case." While speaking, he scribbled quickly on another notepad. "But this is good news as well. The androids not only revealed that Sonic is the prison, but that he does in fact need guarding. This leads one to believe he is healthy and able, does it not? Though this does not mean he is _safe_, nor any of us, for that matter…"

For the third time in five minutes, the door opened. Tails jumped; Espio had already been looking at it, as if he had known someone was there.

"Thanks for letting me in on this!" said an irritable Amy. "I thought we were a team? Why would you not tell me Sonic is in danger?"

"Well, Sonic's _always _in danger, Amy," Tails said quietly. "It's kind of normal at this point."

"You can't use that justification every time something bad happens!" The pink hedgehog shot back. "He's trapped in a prison created by Eggman. That's not normal, he's gotta be going crazy in there! You don't trap someone like Sonic!"

"You say that like we're not going to try and do anything about it," Tails said helplessly.

"That's because you haven't been! I've been waiting for you two to do something aside from talk, but nothing is happening. And who knows what's going on in that tower? Tails, we have to do something at some point. We have to try."

"Allow me to share my part of this," Espio said, "and after all the information is on the table, we can decide what to do."

"That's not how Sonic would do things," Amy said quietly, sadly. The look Espio gave her could have dented steel.

"And look where his way got him," he said back.

Tails cringed. "Hey, that's not fair. Look at all the cool things he's done his way, and all the people he's helped."

"Does it change anything?" Espio asked, turning to him. "Does it make his thoughtlessness any more justifiable now?"

"…You don't know that!" There was restrained defiance in Tails's voice. "You don't know if he was thoughtless… maybe he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time!"

The chameleon kept his tone calm and objective. "And why would he have been in the 'wrong place' to begin with? Was he seeking trouble?"

"Same reason we were," Tails said. "We were trying to figure out what was going on! He was too, because he cares about people."

"Yet, we got ourselves in trouble, and managed to avoid capture. How is it that he could not avoid capture, despite his being many times faster than we are?"

Tails stood up, not angrily, but dismissively. "He didn't flee. If that's the error that got him trapped in the prison, then I know he doesn't regret it, and he's going to do whatever he can to fight from in there. In fact, I'm starting to wish I tried to defeat those robots when we got chased last week. Even if it meant I'd be in there too."

Next to him, Amy's impatience had fizzled out, exposing the naked worry behind it. She walked towards the door, and Tails followed.

"I'm sorry, Espio… let's finish the rest of this later. I need to talk to Amy."

Espio nodded, his face unreadable as it usually was. "I'll be waiting."

He closed the door behind him and caught up to Amy. When they were a considerable distance away, she initiated conversation.

"I'm sorry if I went overboard back there. I had to say something. I've been waiting for weeks, knowing in my heart that Sonic was trapped in there. I know he'll be okay, but it's been a long time now, and we need to do something."

Tails sighed. "You're right, Amy. I'm sorry for not listening to you earlier. When you pointed out how all we do is talk, it made me think, and you're right. We're trying really hard to figure things out, so you have to understand that… but at the same time, I guess that doesn't mean we shouldn't be taking action in the meantime. And finding Chaos Emeralds isn't going to free Sonic, I know that. I've been trying to get into the 'adventure' mindset lately, but to be honest I don't know what to do."

"Are you worried about him, Tails?"

"Sonic? Well… would it make sense if I said I'm not as worried about him as I am about his circumstances? I want to think that he'll be fine, you know? It's just that I don't know how he's going to be able to get out."

"We should try to free him."

"I think so, too. But it's so much bigger than that. So many people are in that tower. We would have to get inside in order to do anything, and that could be counterproductive if it doesn't go right."

"But didn't you just say you'd rather be—"

"I didn't mean that," Tails said. "I guess I was worried, too. But Espio's right, we need to be careful. If _Sonic_ hasn't gotten out of there by now, it's not an easy place to escape. You have a good point about all this, Amy, but so does Espio. This is one of those things we might only get one shot at, and I want to figure out as much as I can about his client as possible first. It might help us."

"How?"

He shook his head. "I don't know yet. But Espio wants to go to Angel Island, too, so maybe we're about to find out."

"And you don't want me to come, right?"

"It's not that. Really, it's the fewer people the better. Espio can be invisible, and I can fly somewhere to hide until he needs me to bring him back. That's really all that's necessary. Hey, do you still have that Emerald?"

"Of course I do!" the girl said, pulling it out briefly and discreetly, then shoving it back in her quills. "I keep it with me now. Nobody would expect me to have one."

"Exactly," the fox replied, handing her the other gem he had found. "So listen, if you want, see if you can pick up signals from any other Emeralds using these ones. Above all, keep it safe. I know you feel like I'm just trying to keep you busy, but I'm really not. I need someone else to keep an eye on these, especially since we're going to Angel Island. I wouldn't want the Chaotix's client catching wind of it, so it's best if it's not with me."

"I can totally do that," Amy said. "I've been guarding it so far, haven't I? Just quit worrying about it and leave it to me, and I'll leave your part to you. Okay?"

Tails smiled, grateful for her cooperation. "Okay."

xxx

First-person perspective

xxx

If 'normal' was a word that held any appropriate meaning for our circumstances, I would have said this day was fairly normal. Sonic and Lucas bounced wit off each other like usual until one of them (read: Lucas) grew angry and gave up. One of the android patrols wandered by every now and then, peeking into everyone's cells, usually accompanied by an obnoxious Kai. Even _they _were getting irritated at the odd little creature.

There was the occasional low rumble of other prisoners conversing, but not very often. Most of the hallway was aware of Sonic's presence by now, but I got the impression that since nobody had been freed and Eggman hadn't been defeated, he was just another person to them.

And really, when you thought about it, he was.

The weather must have been warming up outside, because all three of us were sweating. The other people around gradually became more vocal than usual, probably because of this annoyance. I heard Sonic talking to people who previously had been almost as quiet as me. I didn't know any of their names, even though one of them was in the cell next to me. There was no window on that side, so I couldn't see him, but I had known he was there. He probably still had no idea of my existence.

I couldn't decide if I liked that feeling anymore.

The humidity lasted into the late evening. For me, anyway, it was late evening. Most everyone else was falling asleep or already there, but I was something of a night owl. Sonic was leaning against the wall, having taken a long enough nap today to keep him up a little later than his norm. His head was turned slightly away from me, so it was easy to stay out of his view, especially with most of the lights off. He looked indigo in the dim lighting.

It was impossible to tell what he was thinking about, but he looked relatively content. Every now and then his head dipped, like he was nodding off. Finally he fell asleep completely, blanket sprawled across the floor next to him, leaving me wide awake and bored.

Lucas was tossing and turning, and I could see sweat glistening on his body even in the relative darkness. He swore under his breath once in a while as he tried to force himself to sleep – which, when you thought about it, was really counterproductive. Sleeping was the one thing that involved no force at all. I leaned back against the cool metal wall and watched him, since there was nothing else to watch. When my feet got stiff from stillness, I paced around my cell a bit, and found myself counting my footsteps just to keep my mind occupied.

The boredom was numbing. Life was a hollow, empty shell. A straw with no water at the other end. A book with no pages.

I could understand how people went insane.

A quick flash of movement snagged my gaze. It was Kai. He had approached Lucas's cell and was squeezing himself through the bars. Only then did I realize Lucas had finally fallen asleep.

"Hey!" I whispered without thinking about it. My voice barely sounded feminine anymore; it was rough and scratchy from neglecting it for so long. "What are you doing? Stop it!"

He had something in his hands. It looked like a half-eaten pancake, and a rather large one at that. It was dripping with syrup, and I could only assume it was leftovers from one of Eggman's big meals. It infuriated me that the doctor was residing somewhere in Meka Tower, living luxuriously so close to the rest of us, yet nobody could lay a finger on him.

Kai shot me a dark look, and I realized it was probably the first time he had noticed me. I glared back. For everything that seemed to intimidate me in the recent months, I would not let a chao be one of them.

Before I could say anything else, he flopped the sticky pancake on Lucas's face, mushing it in his hair. I cringed.

"Mmph!" He jerked awake, shedding droplets of sweat and syrup. At least the latter smelled good. "You _evil little_ _bastard!_" The dark, devious look on Kai's face fell away and he suddenly looked apprehensive. His wings fluttered faster and he began to back away, but Lucas was already on his feet, taking long strides toward him. Strung out from lack of sleep and incredible frustration, the male drew back a hand and hit Kai hard. With a cry of pain, the chao smacked into the side wall and fell to the floor.

Lucas wasn't stopping there.

Dark green eyes filled with rage, he picked up Kai by the wing, grasped his small body, and stared him hard in the face. "That's _enough_! I'm _sick _of you and I'm sick of this damn prison! You're not funny and you're not accomplishing _anything_!" On the last word Lucas squeezed the chao's body a little too hard. He gasped, just managing to expand his small form against the constraint of Lucas's hand. "Don't you _ever _come in here again! You hear me? Never!"

The sound of Kai's hoarse cry was heart-wrenching. Tears cascaded down his face. Lucas chucked him toward the bars. His head bumped into one of them, but he quickly righted himself and squirmed out of the cell. I looked at Lucas incredulously.

Despite everything, he was just a chao.

"Kai!" The sound of Sonic's voice made everyone stop in their tracks. No one had noticed him wake up during the commotion. "Come in here."

The chao turned back around, and I caught another glimpse of his face. He looked utterly devastated.

"Come on now," Sonic said, tone unreadable. Kai hovered there slowly, afraid to listen to Sonic, afraid not to. "Kai, in here. I'm not going to hurt you."

Finally, the chao decided he had better listen, and pushed himself in between the bars, wincing as he did so. He let himself fall into Sonic's outstretched hand, face contorting as he tried not to cry again.

"Hey," Sonic said quietly, and I had to strain to hear. "What's this all about anyway?"

Lucas threw his hands up, then let them fall and slap against his thighs, beyond furious. He flopped back down onto his bedroll and righted his blankets loudly, not bothering to rinse the stickiness out of his hair first.

"He's being mean to you too, isn't he?" Sonic asked the chao, and I was quite sure he was referring to Eggman, not Lucas. "And your other chao friends, too. Are there other chao in here, Kai?"

The chao hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

"Thought so. And ol' Eggster doesn't treat you guys any better than he treats me. At least, not from what I can see."

Kai just stared at him cautiously.

"I don't know what he's doing, but he's not your pal, and I think you know it. He wouldn't have you here if he wasn't using you for his own reasons. Kai, we can both be on the same team, if you want. I don't use people like he does."

"Hmph," the chao mumbled in response, calming down a little but not looking happy to be where he was. The two held each others' gazes for a moment, then Kai drifted upward away from Sonic's hand. The hedgehog let him. Ascertaining that he was free, the chao made a quick leave.

xxx

_"__I know that people fight over the most trivial things. Some people may be selfish, like the professor said... but they're basically good, if they try their best and never give up on their wishes." –Amy, SA2_

xxx

_IN CHAPTER 9: 'The machine?' Just what was the android talking about that day, anyway? Sonic's about to find out. It's a nice change of pace to be able to move more than ten feet in a given direction, but with the cold grasp of the androids as they transport him elsewhere, he is no freer than before. This could go one of many different ways…_

See you guys next week, lemme know what you thought! Erm, am I updating too quickly for anyone? 0.o It's just that there's a point in the story I'd like to get to before Sonic Generations comes along and interrupts all of us for a few weeks. XD Game looks great, by the way.


	10. Chapter 9: Hellraiser

A bit of perspective-changing for this chapter, and quite a few future ones too. Some situations just call for third-person narrative. :) Enjoy, and stuff.

CHAPTER 9: HELLRAISER

xxx

Third-person perspective

xxx

Kai flew past Sonic's cell, trying to look at him without actually turning his head so as to avoid hinting his curiosity. Unfortunately for the chao, Sonic saw him immediately and looked up.

Looking self-conscious, Kai raised a tentative paw and waved.

Sonic, of course, waved back.

"Hey, something's going on," Lucas said, approaching the cell's side window. On his way there, he noticed Kai hovering in the hallway, and the two exchanged glares.

The blue blur ignored them, looking around for whatever 'something' was going on, thick quills swinging with his motions. "Nothing looks different to me," he concluded.

As Kai flew away, Lucas turned back to the window. "I guess someone quite a ways across the top floor said a large group of androids was coming this way, and people passed the message on. Usually there's no more than one or two of them."

"Oh yeah? Should I keep passing on the message, then?"

Lucas shrugged awkwardly. "Actually, I have a strong feeling it was meant for you."

"Hah, thought you might say that," Sonic said, looking a lot less uncomfortable than his neighbor did. "I get that feeling too."

"They said something about an examination. I don't know why, but I guess Eggman's got the androids checking people out for something. Maybe to figure out if they're strong enough for him, or whatever. Quite a few people have been taken there already, but I haven't yet, so I don't really know much about it."

"Well, I guess I'm going to find out. Sounds like the only reason there are more robots coming for me is because the usual one or two won't be enough to keep me under control!"

"You look like you have a plan."

The hedgehog laughed. "Who, me? I never have a plan. That's why my plans work."

"What?"

"Makes sense if you don't think about it."

"So what are you going to do?"

Sonic just held his gaze. Wait for it.

"Oh, right."

"It all depends on what _they_ do. Can you see them yet?"

"What, you can't look yourself?" Lucas asked.

Sonic made a face. "Sure, guess I could. But you're already up there, and I'm sitting down over here. Really, I'm just asking you to turn your head. But if you have a neck problem or something…"

"Idon'tseethem," Lucas snapped. Both males fell silent momentarily. "…But I hear them."

"The suspense," Sonic muttered, voice laden with sarcasm, though it was directed at Lucas more than the situation. He got to his feet, heart already pumping a little faster, adrenaline pushing against the biological release gates. It was an exciting sensation he hadn't experienced in a while.

As he had always done, he harnessed it… nurtured it.

For the first time, the blue blur realized how stiff his legs felt. He wondered if he would have a chance to actually _use _them now. It had been such a long time since he had even bothered to stretch them. It occurred to him that he probably should have been doing that anyway to keep in shape, but in the midst of the situation, it had just never been a priority.

He stretched them now, simply because he could. Lucas was watching him out of the corner of his eye.

The androids' footsteps were getting closer. Hearing them clearly now, Sonic approached the front of the cell and stood on his toes to peak through the bars. There were four of them; less than he had expected and less than he had hoped for. The top floor was alive with chatter now. Most everyone had been there for weeks or months, and knew there was rarely reason for four androids to be sharing the same task.

Nobody remembered the magnets in Sonic's limbs until he was pulled suddenly against the panel on the back wall, smacking against it with a metallic thud.

"Sonic!" Lucas grasped the window bars in a white-knuckle grip. The hedgehog didn't respond at first, eyes squeezed shut in sudden pain. "Whoa… are you okay?"

After a moment the blue blur opened his eyes and looked down at one of his hands. The magnetic plate was pinching his skin against the wall. He tried to pull away, but couldn't budge. "I forgot about this thing," he mumbled under his breath.

"Sonic the hedgehog," said one of the androids as it reached his cell. The other three came to a halt behind him. "You will be coming with us for a few brief moments. Doctor Robotnik wishes to x-ray your musculoskeletal and genetic structure so that he can better understand why your body is so receptive to Chaos energy, and to determine the cause of your speed."

"Well," Sonic mused, "going fast tends to have a prerequisite of being at least somewhat fit. You should tell him that. It might _speed _things along a bit."

"Clever hedgehog, he does not want the speed for himself, but for his warriors." Sonic couldn't tell if 'warriors' was meant to refer to robots or humans.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because you are currently physically incapable of doing anything about it."

The hedgehog frowned. "Touché."

The second android stepped in front of the first, reaching for the lock on Sonic's door. There was a golden key in its right hand. It confirmed what they had suspected all along; Sonic's cell was separate from all the others in the prison, only to be opened by that single key.

It was one of the most mentally agonizing moments in the blue blur's life, watching that door swing open, trying to peel himself off the wall to reach it, getting nowhere. The four androids filed in, a sneer on the face of the one with the key as he approached. Sonic could swear its blue-lit eyes got a little brighter at his misfortune.

"I will stand guard," said the android, closing the door but not locking it, "just in case you three cannot keep a grip."

"Will do."

And then the three androids grasped his limbs in a quick, simultaneous motion. There was one at each arm, and the other at both of his feet. The key-holder made a quick motion with its other hand. Sonic felt his weight collapse downward and realized he was free of the magnets. His extremities ached as blood flowed back into the areas that had been pinched against the panel. With the prospect of escape right there in front of him, he struggled with everything he had, trying to twist out of their grasp.

It was a fruitless endeavor. The androids had the same unbreakable grip as when they had captured him. As they carried him out of the cell, he came to terms with the fact that this wasn't how he was going to get away. Like before, he would try to look for an opportunity, since he couldn't make one himself.

He winked at Lucas as the group passed by his cell. The man had calmed down somewhat, leaving his face unreadable.

As they went, the prisoners who saw him started whispering to one another, some concerned, others curious. "Thanks for passing along the message," Sonic said to them, making his voice loud enough to carry over the rumble of whispers. "Hang in there, okay? We're all going to get out of here."

To his delight, they didn't look nearly as lifeless as he had pictured them. He had half-expected stony glares, dead wills, decomposing spirits. But only a select few had been bitter… and unfortunately, it was always those kinds of people that were the most vocal. He had let the downers represent the rest of the top floor mistakenly in his mind. So many other people up here weren't like that at all. They were focused and grimly determined, trying to survive, like he was. "You hang in there too," said a teenager about his age.

"Heh, I suppose that's fair," he said with a grin, turning his head to face him. Why had Lucas thought everyone had lost hope? Sonic realized it had only been an assumption, based on their relative silence. But really, what was he supposed to expect?

The thought crossed Sonic's mind that they should be determined together instead of isolated.

The androids turned down another hallway, a separate branch off the main spiraled corridor of the prison. There were more cells, laid out in the same pattern as all the rest. Just as Sonic wondered if he was known yet in this area, he heard a gasp, followed by his name murmured in quiet surprise. Then: "Hey guys, look!"

As he was escorted down the hallway, people approached the bars to watch him. Every now and then, Sonic could make out some of their hushed words: "I didn't know he was in here," "How did Eggman manage to capture _him?_" and "Is that really Sonic?"

They turned yet again, this time into a smaller spiraled hallway. Sonic mapped out the prison's design in his head: there were two main paths that ran parallel to one another as they coiled their way up throughout the building, and perpendicular paths that connected the two every few hundred feet. Pretty simple, Sonic thought, for scientific genius who wanted to prevent peoples' escape. Maybe he was so confident in his creations that he didn't care if the design was easy to figure out.

"Right down here," commanded one of said creations. They turned down a dark path between two cells that Sonic might not have noticed otherwise. Just as he began to wonder if there was a third spiral, he heard a door swing open.

His heart dipped as it occurred to him that they could be moving him permanently from his cell. If he _had _to be held captive, he didn't want to be all by himself. Lucas had become his friend.

He was relieved when the light flicked on; it didn't look like another cell. He was in a white room full of screens, and some kind of oval pod in the center. The room was circular, and he had a feeling it was at the center of the floor.

One of the androids closed and locked the door behind them.

Looking more closely at the screens, Sonic saw that they contained records of other prisoners. There were names listed, and sub-lists below each one in tiny text. He squinted, but couldn't read any of it. Figuring he had nothing to lose, he looked over at one of the androids holding his arm. "What's all that say?"

"What, on that screen there? It's genetic information about the prisoners, of course."

Sonic could have laughed. "And that one?" He gestured with his head to a screen with several human-shaped diagrams. It had arrows pointing to specific areas.

"It highlights the areas of the body known to be altered by Chaos energy."

"Ahhh," the hedgehog said, letting his eyes wander. There was a similar diagram of a brain, and arrows pointing at various aspects of that, too. He had thought Eggman was only interested in why _he _could utilize Chaos Emeralds. But he was collecting data about everyone…? "So Eggster really _is _making progress in this, he just hasn't learned quite enough to know how to strengthen his army with Chaos energy yet. Am I right?"

"Yes, you might put it that—"

"I don't think we are supposed to say this much, you know," one of the other androids chimed in. It was the mean robot of the four, the one who had sneered at him earlier. "The doctor never set any specific rules for that, but I just have a feeling…"

"Of course, of course. I figured it was okay since he has been secured at the prison for nearly two months now."

"This is true, he is not likely to escape. But still."

"Yes, you are right. Let us proceed with the examination."

At the press of another button on the remote, the blue pod slid open. "Sonic, this machine is not harmful. It will hold you in place and scan your body, kind of like an x-ray or whatever the medical equivalent is called. It is going to collect data on you in the same way it has done so on some of the prisoners already."

"Oh, just put him in it already," mean-bot said.

Suddenly, the hedgehog remembered something. "Hey, quite a while ago, I heard one of you guys tell Kai that the machine wasn't ready for me yet. Were you talking about this?"

"Indeed we were. Eggman told us to make reinforcements to it before using it on you. Though I can't imagine why; you don't seem that strong."

Wisely, Sonic kept his thoughts to himself.

He was pushed into the machine. They quickly closed the sliding door. It was dark. He felt some mechanical device seeking his feet, probably to hold him in place. The androids began to give him instructions so that the machine could get an accurate read. They got as far as telling him to stay still when he tensed his quills, curled over and began spinning.

_Stay still. Hah, like hell I will._

The blue blur's sharp spikes grinded into everything around him: the floor, the mechanism that had been trying to hold his feet, and tons of other scanning tools in the tight pod he was encased in. It was all anonymous junk to him.

He could feel the machine vibrating with his motions, being shaken apart from the inside. It strained and groaned, relentlessly trying to complete the process it had started. The effort was a waste of electricity. Barely five seconds had passed when the thing surrendered. Pieces of dead material crumbled down on Sonic as if making one last attempt to fight back. They merely ricocheted off his spinning form, his protective spikes and high velocity allowing none of them a chance to do him harm.

When he uncurled and opened his eyes, he was in the brightness of the circular room again, the pod nothing more than a pile of debris around his feet.

Sonic didn't stop there. Before the androids could react, he curled in a ball once more and launched himself along the wall, wondering what in the world Eggman was thinking when he made this room round.

Screens and diagrams shattered like glass as he rolled over them at the speed of sound, riding the wall around and around like a tornado. He couldn't help but think that he was glad he had remembered to stretch his legs.

He landed again. The room had been reduced to an unrecognizable pile of glass, plastic and metal. Not one screen had been left untouched.

Meanwhile, the four androids were still making their way towards where he had stood a second earlier.

Snickering to himself, he went for mean-bot. The droid was just turning to face when Sonic jumped and landed a kick on its head. Wires snapped as it separated from its body, clanking against the empty white wall and falling to the floor.

The hedgehog stumbled as he landed. He had expected his kick to be met with resistance, and the complete _lack _of it threw him off. Instead of trying to right himself, he let himself fall and kept rolling. Maybe they broke easily, but these robots were still built to capture, and he couldn't stay still for one second.

Limbs of the three remaining robots slammed down behind him as they tried to catch him mid-roll. He could feel the thuds through the floor.

Sonic jumped toward the wall and launched himself off it with his feet, throwing himself over the group of androids. He barely touched down before speeding around the room as fast as he could. Space was limited, but even a hundred miles per hour was enough to mess up the robots' perception. He saw them turning, their eyes following his movement about six feet behind where he actually was.

Another opportunity.

Still running, he curved in on an arc only he could pull off at such speeds and ran straight for the closest android. When he was within five feet of it, he dropped down and slid, kicking its feet out from underneath it. Moving fluidly, he transitioned back to his feet again and then leaped, pushing himself off the wall in the opposite direction to home in on the android's head.

At the last second, the android pushed off the ground and caught Sonic's kick with both metallic hands. Using the hedgehog's momentum to its own advantage, it whipped him in a semicircle toward a mess of destroyed screen, the motion twisting his ankle. He slid into the debris, unable to stop himself. Pieces of it scattered and spun on the floor. Some hit his skin just right to pierce into it, introducing themselves with sharp, precise pain.

"Unh…!"

"He is disabled. Get him – now!"

The three androids came at him at once, one from the front and two from the sides. They were clear and crisp in his vision, and the light from the ceiling suddenly felt assaulting and abrasive on his eyes. Pain had a tendency to make things more intense like that.

He pushed himself up on his elbows, about to get back up. The motion drove a sliver of debris further into his arm. He winced and hissed in air through his teeth. Blood seeped out around the obstacle indifferently, hitting the floor below in droplets.

Sonic could feel his pulse throbbing repeatedly in his twisted ankle. He didn't even have to stand on it to know it had been injured too.

The one on the right was going to get to him first. It was within feet of him, one arm already extended out, making the reach.

The door back to the hallway was across the room. It was locked. But if he defeated the androids, he would be able to wait until another prisoner was brought up to the scanner, and make an escape…

But that, of course, demanded evasion.

No time to wait on endorphins. He had to move.

The robot's arm came within reach. Sonic held fast before it could attempt the same and pulled himself up by it. "Thanks, buddy! I appreciate it!"

Surprised by his sudden action, the android lurched back, withdrawing its attempt to immobilize him. Taking full advantage, Sonic pushed off his better foot and threw himself at it, not letting it gain any ground. It didn't recover in time to defend itself from the oncoming assault as Sonic rammed its head repeatedly with a flurry of punches.

It was enough to disorient the humanoid. While it stood there useless, the blue blur sprung into the air once more and let gravity pull him down on the thing feet-first. The pressure immediately broke its neck, making wires split and sizzle.

"You've got to be kidding me," one of the two remaining androids said as its comrade fell forward with a clank. "This is a disgrace!"

Sonic turned to face them, tugging the sharp wedge out of his arm and discarding it carelessly. He held his weight heavily on one foot, but made the position look like a casual shifting of weight. "You seriously thought I was that much of a wuss?" he asked through heavy breathing, scratching his nose. "I was just waiting for that fella to get close enough!"

Said fella reached forward from the ground with one last effort, head still hanging limply from strained wires, and grasped Sonic's aching ankle. "Is this close enough for you?" it asked snidely as the hedgehog went rigid, eyes screwing shut.

Then the android short-circuited, its blue eyes flashing sporadically several times before going dark.

The thing was finished. Defeated and unmoving. But the dead grip was locked in place around Sonic's ankle.

It was all he could do to drag his foot across the floor, the disabled robot trailing on it heavily. Crippling him. Weighing him down like lead. Seconds passed in merciful but tense slow motion as he struggled against its grip, leaning down to try and pry the locked fingers open with his hands, shaking his foot back and forth as if that would ease the process. Just as he thought he might be able to wiggle out of its frozen grasp, there was cold pressure on one of his arms.

"Sonic, this is unacceptable," said the android who had grabbed him. "You have destroyed two of our comrades." Unexpectedly, it struck him across the mouth with its free hand. Sonic yelped in surprise, then swung his head back to offender with an affronted glare. The other remaining android removed the dead one from his foot almost insultingly easily, and then grabbed his other arm, rendering him helpless again. "You will be returned to your cell now."

The blow had split Sonic's lip. Unable to wipe blood away with his hands, he accidentally on purpose spat it out on the one of the robot's feet. If the act was perceived at all, the robot didn't react.

As he was escorted roughly back to his cell, there was an announcement over the intercom that Sonic had all but forgotten about until that point. "Attention all patrol androids," came Eggman's impatient voice, "cancel the examinations of all prisoners on the top three floors until further notice. I have received a warning from the network that there is a problem with the scanner. There is no point risking the escape of prisoners if the device is malfunctioning. I am heading down soon to find out what the problem is, so listen for another announcement; operations will resume shortly."

There was a second of silence as people hesitated, making sure the announcement was indeed over. Then a sudden, unanimous cry erupted… a cry of triumph.

Sonic looked at the people looking at him, unrestrained passion in their eyes as they clapped and yelled. Finally, something good had happened. Hope had been restored, if it had ever been gone at all.

They went down the connector hallway and back toward the outer spiral. As they approached, the hedgehog could hear a chant forming, steadily rising in both enthusiasm and volume…

_Son-ic, Son-ic, Son-ic, Son-ic…_

His grin threatened to swallow the rest of his face as he tilted his head to look up at one of the androids. "You should be thanking me you know," he said. "You guys get a break now. Hah, just wait'l Eggman sees how big that 'malfunction' really is."

There was a storm of applause as Sonic was brought back into his hallway. It was one of those bizarre moments where the blue hedgehog was reminded he really _was _a famed hero. But that wasn't what mattered.

Just before arriving at his cell, they passed by Kai. He was standing on the floor off to the side, watching curiously but not intervening at all. "Smile, little guy!" Sonic said. "Have some fun with the rest of us!"

The two androids shoved Sonic roughly back into his cell and slammed the door. Lucas was leaning on the window, shaking his head and smiling. "You're insane."

"If I can get a response like that from you, then I'm doing my job!" The hedgehog grinned broadly.

"I suppose I should have expected no less of you, Sonic. Well played."

"Felt good to break some stuff," the hedgehog said. "I needed some excitement."

"Everyone heard Eggman's announcement. I knew it could only mean one thing. And Eggman doesn't even get it yet."

"Hah, I wish I could be there to see his reaction."

"I know, me too. Hey – what's _that _little bastard doing there?"

Sonic followed Lucas's gaze and turned around. Sitting shyly in a front corner of the blue blur's cell was Kai. Upon being seen, he flew upward toward the bars, making to leave. "Aw, he just wants to chill out, don't you, Kai?"

"Sonic, don't be stupid. He's _Eggman's _chao. He probably just wants you to think he's turned over a new leaf."

"So, what?" Sonic said. "What's the big deal either way? Let's not put a damper in the celebration right now, eh?"

"Whatever," Lucas muttered curtly. "So how did you do it, anyway?"

Sonic shrugged cheerfully. "I just kinda obliterated the place. Simple."

Lucas looked at him dryly. "Good story."

"You had to have been there. Too awesome for words, I'm telling you." He cleared his throat. "In all seriousness, though, I did find some things out."

Lucas asked the obligatory question: "Like what?"

"Well, for one, these super-tough android guys? They shatter like glass. They're hard to evade, but if you _can_ manage to land a hard blow, they're pretty much down for the count. I'm thinking we can find ways to destroy them from in here, even.

"But that's the good news," Sonic continued. "The better news is that the machine I destroyed _used _to be for collecting data about peoples' compatibility with Chaos energy. There has to be more of them, since this place has an insane number of floors. But still, it'll slow Eggman down a lot."

"You lost me," Lucas informed him.

"Chaos-enhanced army. You're going to hear that phrase a lot, because that's what Eggman's after, here. He's collecting that data so he can figure out how to use Chaos energy on people against their will. He wants to make them stronger, probably so they can combat G.U.N. and take over the nation. And it's like I suspected before…" Sonic looked at his neighbor solemnly through the bars. "I think _he _thinks his enemies won't be so quick to attack if it means hurting innocent people he manipulated."

"What, can these Emeralds mind-control or something?"

"No," Sonic said, "but the controller of the Emeralds is the one who… well, has control. Peoples' minds wouldn't be taken over, but they'll still be forced to do what Eggman wants, if he can get them to use Chaos energy. They'll be like puppets."

_If he can get them to… but… how?_

"This is sick."

"Yup. But we're making progress, now, aren't we? We just have to be patient and wait for opportunities like the one that just came up. In the meantime we can try to disable as many androids as possible."

"Patient," Lucas muttered. "You."

Sonic scoffed. "Hey, I've got the upper edge between the two of us."

"Oh, please."

"See? Impatience, right there."

"What was that you said about not putting a damper in things?" Lucas asked sarcastically. "Take your own advice. Hey, what're you doing?"

Sonic had approached the front of his cell. As Lucas watched, he gripped the bars on the top half and lifted himself off the ground by them, resting his feet on the concrete the iron rods were built into. "Hey!" he shouted out, his voice echoing up and down the hallway. "You all know who this is _now_, right?"

Before he had finished the sentence, people had begun yelling out their responses and cheers. Lucas just shook his head, but even he couldn't keep from smiling.

"Listen… the only way a ruler can be successful is if people choose to follow! People are just as responsible for the rise of Eggman's monarchy as they could be for the destruction of it. So if we do what we can right now, and never give up, we've already got the upper edge."

"Say something _good_," Lucas grumbled in the background. "This is reminiscent of the kind of cheese you read on posters in school hallways."

For his part, Sonic happily ignored him. "Most of you probably understand what Eggman's up to now. If Eggman can figure out the mystery of what makes someone able to use Chaos Emeralds, he might be able to come up with a way to control _you_ with them. Eggman's not just planning to make an army out of you, he's trying to figure out how to make the Chaos Emeralds compatible with everybody. Sounds good in theory, but that much reckless strength is only going to cause destruction. At the moment, though, he doesn't know all the factors involved in utilizing the Emeralds, which is good for us. And with the scanner destroyed, everyone on this floor is safe anyway."

Someone a few cells down asked, "Does he have any of these Chaos Emeralds?"

"I dunno," Sonic called back. "I'm going to assume he does just in case. If he doesn't, he still has other peoples' data that he can implement when he _does _get a hold of one. So it's a problem either way."

"But you just destroyed that machine! I thought he didn't have that data anymore."

"Yeah," Sonic said, "but who said that was the only one of those machines? This place has an uncountable number of floors, so he's gotta have more lower down. What I did'll slow him down but it won't stop him. The androids are the ones who _take _people to these scanners though, so if we can find ways to defeat them, we're in good shape."

"So why did he want scan you if everyone already knows you can use the Chaos Emeralds?"

Sonic took pause. That was a good question. "My only guess is that he wanted to compare me to everyone else and see if he could find any common factors, or whatever." _Technology is so not my specialty. _"All the data from that scanner has been destroyed, so we don't really need to worry about that anyway."

The exchange went on for several minutes, nearby prisoners asking strings of questions to get in the know. When Sonic finally climbed down from the bars – carefully to avoid further harming his tender ankle – Lucas was watching him with a conceding smile. "What?" the hedgehog asked.

"I'm just glad I'm not on the receiving side of your retaliation. Here I thought you never made plans."

The hedgehog just laughed.

xxx

Night hadn't even fallen yet when Lucas destroyed two androids from inside his cell. The first one had fallen victim to a large cup of water he'd had from lunch that day. Many of the H-series robots that resided in Meka Tower were catered specifically to inside environments. As such, Eggman had overlooked the notion of making those ones waterproof. The second one had set Lucas's dinner on the ledge at the front of his cell, where the bars met the concrete door, and had gotten _just _close enough in doing so for Lucas to grab its head and twist.

He had gotten all his meals taken away for the next day, but it had been well worth it. Sonic promised to share food with him, anyway.

"Hey folks," the man called to all who could hear him, peering out the front of his cell as much as he could. "Sonic's right, these androids are a piece of cake! I just took out two of 'em. Eggman will probably catch on and fix their flaws eventually, but until then, don't be afraid to do something about these guys. And use water! It gets between the cracks real fast, and most of them weren't built to be immune to it!"

"You're becoming more like me by the day," Sonic remarked.

"Don't flatter yourself."

"Hey, after destroying that scanner, I'm owed a few bragging rights, don't you think?"

Lucas gave a noncommittal grunt. "The right kind of person doesn't _use _them."

"Oh, chill out. I was just kidding, pal."

"I still don't understand the big deal with the scanner, anyway. I mean, like you said, there's bound to be more. Eggman'll probably just take the prisoners up here down to the other floors that have them, you know?"

"I still don't understand the big deal with those androids, anyway. I mean, there's _tons_ more of them. Eggman'll probably send more out to replace the ones you killed, you know?"

Lucas glared at him.

"Aw, that's all you got?" Sonic asked innocently. "I was hoping for a better wit contest tonight."

"I wasn't trying to undermine that you destroyed it, you know," Lucas said in an offended mumble. "That wasn't directed at you. I was just saying that there's still so much we'll have to do before putting a dent in anything."

"Not really. We're already putting a dent in it. I mean, I haven't seen any androids go by with prisoners since earlier today, and even if there _are _more scanners, it'll be a much longer distance for them to travel. Plus, less androids to travel it." He winked. "Not to mention, all the data on that scanner was destroyed. That's gotta count for something."

"To what end?" Lucas asked. "I'm not trying to be negative here, but I honestly don't get it. How can x-rays or DNA tests or whatever possibly tell him anything about peoples' functionality with the Chaos Emeralds?"

Sonic drew a breath to respond, expecting himself to _have _a response by the time he started talking like he usually did. Then it dawned on him.

Eggman could only make so much progress by way of his scanners, because someone's ability to use Chaos energy wasn't based only on their biological structuring. It was also based on emotion, Sonic knew, because he had experienced that connection directly every time he had ever used the Emeralds. They turned thoughts into power.

Only the strongest and most willful of emotions – notably pure benevolence and pure hatred – could unlock the power of the Chaos Emeralds. Anyone could use them to strengthen objects or devices… but people could only access their power _themselves _through emotion.

For a reason he couldn't explain, Sonic felt uneasy.

It should have been a relieving thought. Eggman was missing a huge piece of the puzzle and didn't even know it. But it unnerved him. After all, who was to say Eggman wouldn't realize that and change his tactic? He was, if nothing else, an intelligent man. But even if the doctor did figure it out, that didn't mean it was the end-all, be-all of this fight… right? After all, it wasn't like he had control over people's emotions.

Sonic leaned on his hand, trying to figure out why the notion bothered him so much.

xxx

"_Nothing starts until you take action!" –Sonic, Sonic the Hedgehog 2006_

xxx

IN CHAPTER 10: Tails and Espio go up to Angel Island to see Knuckles for themselves and, erm, I'm having a really hard time thinking up a good preview today. XD

Thanks for reading! Hope you guys liked this one, I thought it was fun. ^^ Feedback appreciated, as always. Happy reading/writing!


	11. Chapter 10: Rationale

A little bit of everyone in this chapter, and more answers, and more questions. :P Hope you enjoy. Oh, by the way, I keep forgetting to mention to you guys that this story'll be significantly longer than my typical 20 chapters. There's no way we're at the halfway point already, this story's still a child. ;)

CHAPTER 10: RATIONALE

"No way! I don't _believe _this!"

"Doctor… Master Eggman… You summoned me?"

Doctor Master Eggman didn't dignify the android standing in the scanner room's doorframe with a response. Consumed by rage, he glowered at the pile of brokenness before him, angry sweat dripping off his chin, and screamed; "Sonic, Sonic, _Sonic!_" The android flinched."The whole reason I captured him was because I wanted to prevent this kind of thing! I took preemptive action instead of allowing him the chance to stop me, and he _still _manages to slow me down! I've had enough of this! I've had enough of this since _day one_! Something needs to be _done!_"

On the last word, Eggman kicked a piece of the scanner Sonic had destroyed. It ricocheted off the walls and just barely missed his head on its way back.

"That hedgehog… that damn hedgehog! _You!_" Suddenly, Eggman whirred around, facing the robot so fast that it took a step back. "Get in here! All the way in this room! _Now!_"

Slowly, the android did.

"You were amongst the four droids who transported Sonic here the other day, were you not!"

"Why, yes, Master, I was. But—"

"You showed him mercy! You shared details of my projects with him, and treated him with dignity! And you _shared details of my projects with him! _That was not part of your job, do you hear me?"

"If I may be so bold, Doctor…what difference does it make? I kept a very firm grip on him despite my attitude. Notice I did not let him defeat me as two of my comrades did. And at any rate, do my words to him matter? It would not have prevented him from destroying the scanner."

There was a lapse in conversation. Both of the scientist's fists were clenched at his sides as he struggled to maintain the fragile self-control he had. His facial features were contorted in a livid grimace. After a moment, he took a stride closer to the robot and met its glowing blue eyes with his own. He didn't speak.

"Doctor?" the android asked. "Doctor… what will you do now? How can I help?"

"I'll do what I should have done from the start," Eggman hissed menacingly through clenched teeth. "But you will not be a part of it. I have had more than enough of my creations turn on me in the past, and I will not take the risk of one more doing so, even one as_ insignificant_ as you. Please self-destruct."

The android looked shocked, if its artificial intelligence system was even capable of such expression. "I beg your pardon?" it asked in a voice layered with artificial anxiety as its glowing blue eyes widened. "P-please… Doctor, you must allow me to further elaborate…"

"_I said SELF-DESTRUCT NOW!_"

Left with no choice, the android obeyed. Its metal body looked more like glass as it shattered anticlimactically and joined the rest of the debris in the room. Eggman left, slamming the door behind him so hard that vibrations rang across the walls.

"Sonic… I refuse to fail now. It is, in fact, _that _simple."

xxx

"I would love to say, 'if you are fatigued we can take a break.' Unfortunately I can't offer much comfort in that area."

Tails looked down at his passenger. In the background of his vision was the ocean, several thousand feet below. His tiring situation took a bit away from its splendor, though he tried to appreciate it anyway. "We're… we're almost there," he managed, spinning his namesakes as fast as he could. "I can… make it. You're kind of making my feet fall asleep, though."

"My grip is getting sweaty," Espio told him. "I'm holding onto you tighter so I don't fall."

The edge of the floating island was at worst a hundred feet higher, but with the cramps in the fox's tails, it might as well have been another thousand. He squeezed his eyes shut with the effort, raising himself and Espio as quickly as he could. The chameleon was somewhat lighter than Sonic, but it seemed insignificant at this point. Carrying his _own _weight for this long in the air would have been more than enough, never mind someone else's.

"I've… I've never flown this long in my life," Tails said breathlessly as they approached the island. "I didn't think it'd be this hard. My tails are never going to want to spin again after this."

They still had to come down from the island afterward, but wisely, Espio kept that comment to himself.

"Okay… here we go…" Finally closing the distance, Tails flopped the two of them over onto the edge, collapsing into the lush, moist grass. "Oh wow. Phew. Does Charmy fly himself and Vector up here when they do their business?"

"He does," Espio replied. "But he's a bee. He was built to fly. Save for the tails, you weren't." He glanced over at the fox, then back off at the island before him. "Good effort. That took a lot of willpower."

"Heh, thanks." Tails rolled over and sat up. The world around him was a collection of vibrant green shades with the occasional dot of flowers. He could hear the steady rush of water somewhere behind him, and birds chirping up in the trees. Said trees were somewhat sparse, but their sheer beauty and saturation more than made up for what they were lacking in numbers. They were so green they almost glowed, and the leaves were thick and healthy, the sun reflecting off their moist outer layers. "This place is really beautiful," he said. "I mean, if you have to live in one place for your entire life like Knuckles does, this is a pretty good choice."

"Indeed it is," Espio agreed. He raised a hand and pointed in the opposite direction Tails was facing. "There is a river over there if you are thirsty."

"Oh, perfect," the fox said gratefully, approaching it. For a second he just stared into the sparkling water, debating whether or not it was drinkable, then remembered that Knuckles drank it all the time. He cupped his hands and lifted some out, swallowing it quickly and going back for seconds. Then, on a whim, he threw himself in.

Espio watched him with mild amusement, approaching the edge of the river and crossing his arms. "You _are _worn out."

Tails dunked his head under the water briefly, making his bangs cling to his face. "I'm good now," he said happily, rubbing wetness out of his eyes. "Man. It's way too hot of a day _not _to do that, after flying that long."

"I'm going to seek out the shrine and observe Knuckles. You should probably stay here."

"Right. I'll be waiting when you get back. The Master Emerald's shrine is that way, by the way," he added, pointing a dripping finger. "I've been here before."

Espio nodded, and camouflaged. Since he had been watching, Tails could just see the chameleon's outline. He blinked, and it was gone.

Tails dragged his water-saturated body out of the water and shook himself dry canine-style. Adequately refreshed, he plopped down in the grass, wondering how to tag along without Espio noticing. He hadn't flown all that way just to let his detective friend have all the fun. In the meantime, he swung his sore tails around in front of him and stroked them, easing away the lingering cramps.

Knuckles was the Master Emerald's guardian, and had lived on Angel Island alone for his whole life. As a result, he tended to come across as unsocial. Tails couldn't imagine him asking for help, even from the Chaotix Detective Agency. It would take something huge.

Even then, Tails couldn't imagine why his first notion would be to talk to the Chaotix Detective Agency. Knuckles was not relationally close to anyone, but at least he was _somewhat_ near a friendship status with Sonic. Why a group of up-and-coming detectives over a seasoned fighter?

Only when he asked himself the question did Tails recognize the probable explanation. Knuckles – like Sonic – was incredibly stubborn. Neither of them would ask the other for help if they had another option, because they would never want to admit they _needed _help. And too, he realized he didn't know just how long Sonic had been in the tower. For all he knew, Knuckles _had _wanted to speak with Sonic when he had first decided he needed help, but hadn't been able to find him.

Somewhere in the vague background of his thoughts was the ironic realization that both of his markedly stubborn friends were stuck in lousy predicaments at the moment. He wondered if there was a correlation.

Once he had rested for a few minutes, the fox reluctantly pushed himself up and started walking in the direction of the shrine. After going through a few scattered trees, he could see it off in the distance. He was facing the back of it, to his advantage. If Knuckles was indeed there, he would likely be sitting on the staircase, facing the opposite direction.

Upon getting closer, he realized he could see the Master Emerald. It was an unexpectedly relieving sight. He had hardly even considered the fact that the Master Emerald could have been in danger; most of his concern had been for Knuckles and the Chaotix.

He gingerly began to fly again, picking himself up just enough to keep his feet from making noise against the grass. With utmost silence, he approached the back of the shrine and set himself down behind the Master Emerald.

Espio, wherever he was, was still invisible. He could see everyone else, though. Knuckles was at the bottom of the staircase, facing away from him. The other two members of the Chaotix were talking to him about something; Tails couldn't tell what.

Vector was looking around in a seemingly relaxed manner. But he leveled one of those casual glances at Tails, making direct eye contact, letting the fox know he wasn't very good at being inconspicuous. Quietly, the fox flew down and landed behind one of the pillars off to the side of the shrine, hoping that would be a more appropriate hiding spot. Vector gave the slightest of nods.

Within earshot now, he strained to listen to the conversation. He just managed to make out Knuckles's brusque voice.

"…Another option I'll throw out there is rare artifacts. Since this island has been high above the rest of civilization for so long now, there are items most people don't know about or ever get to see up here."

"How rare?" Vector asked him. "Would they fetch a good price?"

"Yes," Knuckles replied. "Very good. I would love to negotiate payment around them, if that is all right with you. I'll make it worth your while."

"Sorry to be nosy," Vector said, "but can I ask why you want us to continue guarding this thing anyway? I mean, it's your duty or whatever, isn't it?"

"It is, but—"

"Listen, Knuckles. If there's something bad going on, and the Master Emerald needs extra protection because of that, you should let us know what we're getting into. I've been helpin' you so far but you aren't keeping me informed. This isn't even supposed to be in my line of work!"

"I thought you never turned down work that pays…? Either way, I cannot explain right now," Knuckles said emotionlessly. Usually the echidna was quicker to defend himself or show his temper, especially considering how forceful Vector was getting…

Tails watched his violet eyes. He could swear they looked irritated. That temper _was _there, it was just concealed beneath the surface. And the usual layer of slight moisture coated those eyes. They looked… _real_. He had been expecting to find signs on the echidna betraying a mechanical interior. But even with his trained eye, he could find none.

Despite that, something still didn't seem quite right about the echidna. Tails couldn't place his finger on what it was. There were just subtle, almost imperceptible differences about everything. His tone, his mannerisms, his appearance. On their own they would have been insignificant, but..._  
><em>

"You can't explain right now?" Vector pressed, interrupting Tails's train of thought and looking impatient. "Mind letting us know when you might be able to explain, Knuckles?"

"I don't know yet. But until I do, you're just going to have to conform to my ideas."

"And why don't you want Espio to know about this, hm?" Charmy chimed in. "Why?"

"You have asked me this multiple times. I don't want to keep repeating myself…"

"Is it because he's a ninja and all? Afraid he'll discover something Vector here won't?"

"Charmy, shut up," Vector muttered under his breath. "You're not helping."

"No, that has nothing to do with it," Knuckles replied, still with the indifferent tone. "Am I not your client? Are you going to help me or interrogate me?"

Tails could see his own feelings reflected in Vector's eyes now: this wasn't meshing. Something really was amiss.

"Listen, Knuckles," Vector began again, "why don't you take a break. Leave this to us for now while you think about what you wanna do. Okay?"

"No. Not a chance. I'm not allowed to take breaks."

_Allowed?_

"Who says? I mean, aren't you pretty much your own boss?"

The rest of the conversation was lost on Tails, because something brushed the fur on his shoulder and made him gasp. Immediately he covered his mouth, shutting himself up. He turned to look at whatever it had been, but he didn't see anything.

He panicked for a moment, debating whether he should back away quietly or run for his life, before being struck by the obvious.

Espio.

Discreetly, the fox turned around and headed back the way they had come. He couldn't see Espio at all, but he knew where the chameleon was going. As he flew, he risked a glance over his shoulder, making sure _Knuckles _still had his back turned. When he was out of sight distance and back into the trees, he hit the ground at a jog, letting his exhausted tails drag lazily behind him.

Once they were back at the river, Espio made himself visible again. "I apologize for scaring you," he said. "I wanted to let you know I was finished there."

"So you knew I was there the whole time?"

"Of course. I knew you were coming the second you said you would stay here."

Tails rubbed his arm self-consciously, looking away. "Well, uh, did you find out anything I didn't see already?"

The chameleon sighed. "I knew Knuckles was the client the entire time," he confessed. "I just didn't know if it was wise to tell you so from the start. Vector and I have been discussing it for a while now. Every time those two come here, they face the same peculiarities that you and I just saw. Nothing Knuckles says fits, and he refuses to give them a reason why he wants their help."

The two of them sat down in the grass. "You know," Tails said, "there are two things wrong with this. One is that Knuckles never wants help from _anyone_, even me or Sonic, unless it's absolutely necessary. It's not only that he thinks he shouldn't need other peoples' help, it's also that he doesn't fully trust anyone. He can be kind of gullible, and I think he knows it, so he doesn't want to be taken advantage of." The fox looked up at Espio meaningfully. "Yet for some reason, he's trusting Vector and Charmy to help him lately."

The detective nodded. "And two?"

"Two is that Knuckles is the most honest person I know. He doesn't lie about anything. I've never even known him to withhold information like he's doing now. He's usually so straightforward. I've never seen him worry so much about what others think of his motives like that."

"Tails. Remember when you and I first rendezvoused, and I told you I thought this was somehow connected to Meka Tower?"

Tails met his eyes, and suddenly the peaceful green world around them seemed a lot more ominous, almost as if it were mocking them with its pleasant grandeur. A chill ran up his spine, and he knew what the detective would say long before it came out of his mouth. "Yeah?"

"I don't think _Knuckles_ is guarding the Master Emerald. Knuckles is, in all likelihood, trapped in the prison along with Sonic."

"Then…" Slowly, the fox glanced over his shoulder at the area they had just come from, looking utterly confused despite that he had come to the exact same conclusion. "Then who's… _that?_"

xxx

Knuckles sighed, leaning on a gloved hand.

He was used to solitude and loneliness. He was used to spending countless days in one place. It was the life he knew, being the guardian of the Master Emerald.

The Master Emerald had always been his purpose. It had been a duty passed down from his ancestors to keep the relic safe from the world… and the world safe from _it._ It limited his life immensely, made him miss countless opportunities. That restrictive lifestyle only seemed more prominent because of Sonic, whose lifestyle was the sheer opposite. It tortured him, watching the blue blur indulge in his own freedom all the time without a second thought. He was probably off somewhere on some ridiculous, self-created adventure right now, exploring some city or racing his own shadow to the top of a mountain.

Knuckles had learned to deal with it. Not quite accepted it, but learned to deal. After all, staying in one place all the time had its advantages, too. He had stability in his life. He had the ability to sit back and watch the world happen instead of always being called to be a part _of _it. And more importantly, he had dedication. To be so devoted to something, to have such an extensive level of commitment and responsibility focused on one aspect, to know how rewarding it could be to impassion oneself so deeply… he couldn't imagine Sonic ever understanding that.

Even though Knuckles wished occasionally that he could abandon his duty and live a normal life, he couldn't imagine feeling so purposeless. At least with the burden of the Master Emerald, he could honor his ancestors and play an off-the-camera part in protecting the world. It gave him reason to endure the isolation he felt on the floating island.

The isolation inside Meka Tower, however, was another story. He was serving no purpose being trapped in such a place. The feelings of seclusion went without the balance that was normally there: conviction and raison d'être. The Master Emerald was left unprotected and exposed, and there was nothing he could do about it.

Every day, he tried. Every day, he punched the wall with his powerful fists in an attempt to weaken it. Every day, he trained himself, just as he always had on Angel Island. It was all he could do now.

At first, people had looked at him strangely for his behavior. Now, nobody cared. Nobody cared about anything; it was as though they were all weakened to the point of lifelessness, alive only biologically. The numbness occasionally reached him, too. They were neglected, improperly fed… and anybody who reacted vocally was quickly silenced by an android.

If androids were around, that was. Their appearance had become scarce lately, which likely served as part of the explanation for the lack of adequate feeding. Knuckles had overheard it was because extra security was needed near the top floors. The _top floors_, where people were _furthest _from the prospect of escape.

He couldn't imagine why.

xxx

First-person perspective

xxx

"I wish I had the ability to sleep. They all look so peaceful."

"You know, that thought particle has crossed my central processor more than once. I have yet to try it, though. Sleep isn't required for us, but perhaps it's indeed possible."

"This could be."

The smooth voices of the two androids were nearly drowned out by the sounds of their motors. Nobody was meant to be able to hear what they were saying… but then, nobody was meant to be awake at this hour, either. Quietly, cautiously, I sat up to look.

"What was Master Eggman speaking to you about earlier, if I am permitted to ask?"

"Oh, that. To be frank, I am still not sure. I think he was speaking more to himself than me, I just happened to be in close proximity at the time. He was… very, very angry. Fortunately, though, I missed the worst of his wrath. Apparently he commanded one of our comrades to self-destruct for failing him."

"Is this anger because of Sonic's umpteenth victory over him?" The other robot asked.

"Hah, perhaps. It is to his detriment that he programmed us with knowledge of his past failures."

"Don't be immature. It was a rather intelligent decision, despite the disadvantages; he did that so we would have knowledge of what does _not _work. How do you think we are able to do our jobs so well?"

"Not a bad point."

"So what of the incident earlier, then?"

"Before the android self-destructed, he mentioned a different plan of action. It still involves the Chaos Emeralds, so I am not sure what has changed."

"Don't the Master's plans almost always involve the Chaos Emeralds somehow? I am not surprised."

"Yes. But now he figures he has found enough people whose genetics and DNA are compatible with Chaos energy, not to succeed with his empire, but to get started on the next part of all this. See, Chaos power is fueled by the heart, by emotion. It was first thought they only responded to hate and anger. Since then, it has been proven that they are capable of enhancing the purest of good and evil emotions. But we know nothing of the rest of the spectrum, of what's in between. And a lot of these people are not willing or knowledgeable enough to use the Chaos Emeralds, even if they have the biological disposition to do so, so Eggman needs to find a way to change that."

"That makes sense. In fact, I am surprised that did not occur to him earlier; he knows Chaos energy is ultimately triggered by emotion."

"Indeed it is, but only by those who are biologically capable of using it, as I have said."

"Of course. Please continue."

"Our master indeed has a short temper, but I have never seen him lose it like that." The robot paused. "I must admit, I am curious about the plan, as well. It seems so unorganized right now; I can't imagine where he could go from here."

"I'm afraid I don't understand the significance either. Is this really relevant to anything for us, though? Do we even know if he has a Chaos Emerald?"

"I do not know. I suppose we should not delve too far into this topic until our Master makes us more aware of it."

"Yes, that is probably wise. In that case… what of Sonic?"

"Sonic." The robot paused, the residue of its tone saturating the stale air. I felt my blood run cold at the way he said Sonic's name. "I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to make any decisions regarding the, ah, 'blue blur' from here on out. Master has specific plans regarding him."

"What kind of plans?"

"Specific ones," it reiterated, and I could almost picture the dry look on its partner's metal face. "He always has specific plans for the hedgehog, does he not?"

"You know more than you're telling."

"Oh, patience, friend. All will be revealed in due time. Tomorrow, in fact, I believe."

"Wonderful. I am just itching to see which of the two enemies is more predictable this time." Mechanical sigh. "Is Master Eggman still angry about the scanner?"

"He commanded me to leave him alone. I think that is a pretty good indicator of his mood right now. He almost always has myself or another android with him as a guard, but he wanted complete solitude. To consider… to think. Hence why I am out here discussing this with you."

"That's peculiar. Your whole explanation of this, I mean. I have a hard time deciphering him sometimes… The thing is…"

I stopped listening after that point. My palms were sweaty and my heart was pounding a little too fast. Just as I wondered if I was overreacting, I glanced over to Lucas's cell and saw my reaction mirrored in his dark green eyes. He had been awake the whole time, too… and he had sensed what I had sensed, whatever that was. Something was wrong with the android's words. All of them. Something we were both aware of on some vague level but couldn't quite grasp… the content of those words, the way he said them, the heavy significance they carried, the involvement of the Chaos Emeralds… something was wrong.

Simultaneously, we glanced into Sonic's cell. The hedgehog was fast asleep, his chest rising and falling slowly, completely unaware of everything that had just been said.

Which left that responsibility to us.

For the first time, I was scared for someone other than myself. The android had talked about him. I didn't get Sonic, didn't get him at all… but he was my distraction from this hellhole of a world, the only reason I had been able to hang onto my sanity at all, and I didn't want to lose that. I hoped Eggman didn't take him somewhere else again, or somehow overtake him with the Chaos Emeralds, or… or…

No. Not that k-word. He wouldn't.

…Right?

I was getting ahead of myself. Making assumptions. But Eggman's plans were bad enough as they were. Blind rage would amplify them to a catastrophic level.

I drew a breath, actually about to say something to Lucas, but he hushed me with a look. He was still listening to the androids' discussion. I couldn't hear them anymore; they must have turned around and begun walking in a different direction. Lucas's eyes were closed as he strained to decipher the muffled words.

Finally, he said, "Shit."

Sonic made a noise in his cell. We both turned to look at him. He stuffed one side of his face deep into the pillow and snored in a way I didn't think someone could replicate if awake.

Lucas looked at me again. "What do we do? Damn it, why couldn't Sonic have just been awake to hear all that himself? Maybe he'd know what to do… I mean, he knows Eggman, knows his tendencies. Maybe he'd be able to catch onto what's happening…" he trailed off. I looked away.

Lucas threw his hands up, exhaling irritably. It was hard to tell if his impatience was directed at my silence or at everything he had just heard. Almost as soon as he broke eye contact, he whirred around toward me again and asked, "Should I tell him?" He looked more desperate than I had ever seen him, begging someone to take this heavy responsibility away from him.

My mental response was _why wouldn't you? _But I hesitated. It didn't slip by me that he had said 'I,' not 'we.' Not that that was his fault. It was because I had been so withdrawn that he hadn't automatically included me. Suddenly, I felt guilty at how little of a contribution I was to this situation. A part of me wanted to face my fears now and be useful now, but it seemed too… out of my depth. Where do you start when no one has ever heard you speak?

_Here, _a voice in my head commanded, and I determined that I would do my best, for Sonic's sake. In a voice hoarse from lack of use, I whispered, "I think you should tell him."

At that same moment, he said aloud, "I don't think I should tell him."

Awkward.

"The thing is…" Lucas started, then glanced through the bars into Sonic's cell again just to make sure, "neither of us can stop anything right now, not yet. We don't even know what all of Eggman's new plans are. So why bother telling him when he won't be able to do any more than he's already doing? That'd just be disappointing, right? So why give him bad news when it's pointless? And what the android said about Eggman wanting to deal with Sonic himself… well, that's how it always is, right? Sonic's not new to this. We are. We probably don't even get it."

I cleared my throat, trying to get the dryness out of my voice. "At first I would have said it's his right to know all this, but…" I cleared my throat again, forcing my vocal chords to function. Had it really been that long since I had spoken? "It's… it's one thing if something bad happening is just a passing possibility, but with all of us trapped, we're at the mercy of our captors." I swallowed even though there was nothing there to swallow. My heart was pounding. After months of being invisible, it had grown to feel right, even though I had never acted that way before being captured.

Now it felt foreign to me just to sustain conversation.

"So what're you getting at?" he asked me impatiently, which didn't help my confidence at all, but then I remembered how unintentionally tactless he was with Sonic sometimes and felt a little better.

"I changed my mind," I began quietly. "If it was me, I wouldn't want to know. I wouldn't want to face that kind of uncertainty and anticipation, wondering what my enemy had in store for me and everyone I was trying to protect. And plus, Sonic destroyed that one scanner, so there's no way Eggman can be as far along as the robots are saying he is. So if nothing else, you're probably right in keeping it quiet just because we're not sure of anything yet. Maybe…" I gasped as the realization hit me. "Maybe they _wanted _us to hear all that! I mean, why would they congregate so close to our cells? Maybe it was a setup, and they expect us to tell Sonic about it if he wasn't already awake to hear it himself. I think it's a diversion."

"But to what end…?" Lucas wondered quietly. He crossed his arms. "Okay. We won't say anything. Keep your ears open, though. We have to try and figure out what's really going on here. Hey, what's your name, anyway?"

"Amber," I said quietly. "I'm Amber."

"Matches your eyes."

"I get that a lot."

He nodded slowly, as if not knowing what else to say. I didn't know what else to say either, so we both turned away, a mutual silent agreement that we were done talking for the moment.

Sonic was still fast asleep, hugging one of his pillows to his chest, snoring quietly.

xxx

"_Such great power can bring people either happiness, or misfortune…" –Sonic, Sonic Rush_

xxx

_IN CHAPTER 11: _Tails, Espio and Amy attempt to infiltrate Meka Tower, for better or worse. Failure is incredibly dangerous, but then, so is success. The next morning, just inside the tower, things are tense between Sonic and Lucas for a much different reason than irritation this time. Uncertainty and confusion sit heavily in the air, but at the end of the day, there is only one way they can go.

See you guys next week and stuff! Things are gonna get kinda wild pretty soon in this story… Hope everyone's ready for it. ;) Thanks for reading!


	12. Chapter 11: In Shadows, In Light

Heh, so I threw people off with not having an author's note at the beginning of this initially? Fine, here's your author's note. ;P

So yeah, I can actually call her Amber now instead of just that random narrator. Awesome. :D In case of any confusion (since someone asked), unless said otherwise, all first-person bits are in her perspective. She's basically Meka Tower's narrator... kind of. The first-person bits will slowly fizzle out throughout the chapters, as there will be a LOT of parts where the story simply has to be told normally, for one reason or another.

Enjoy!

CHAPTER 11: IN SHADOWS; IN LIGHT

xxx

First-person perspective.

xxx

Yowch. That was a grating sound.

Why did interesting things always have to happen when I was right on the edge of sleep? It took me a long time to relax enough to sleep as it was in here. As I quietly, cautiously picked myself up, I noticed Sonic seemed to be drifting back toward wakefulness too. He was massaging his eyes with a finger and thumb.

Then there was that ear-splitting screeching noise again. Now that I was awake enough to register it fully, it sent a shiver up my spine. It was the low wail of metal creaking and screeching against itself. Mechanical innards. And it was _very _close.

"Eh, hey, Lucas?" the hedgehog said tiredly. "Dude. I know they gave us greasy food today, but… could you let it rip at a time when the rest of the universe isn't trying to get some shuteye?"

"I dunno, sounds like it was more from your area than mine. Guilty conscience?"

The chorus of groans came back, louder than before. I actually cringed. Sonic's ears flattened down against his head distastefully and he shuddered. Lucas muttered something irritably under his breath.

"O-okay," Sonic said, more awake now though not by his own choice, "seriously, what _is _that?"

"You tell me," Lucas said, coming up to the window all wrapped up in his sheet. He gestured with a single nod towards the general area of Sonic's cell. "It sounds like it's right on the other side of your back wall."

"Huh?" Looking baffled, Sonic made to approach said wall. Lucas and I both tensed and exchanged a nervous glance. It seemed to take forever as we watched, but it was probably just my perception of it. For his part, Sonic didn't seem all that tense or even surprised. The noise was just a mere oddity to him. He wanted it out of the way so he could sleep.

Gently, slowly, he laid one gloved hand against the wall and waited. When nothing tore out of it and tried to kill him, he looked over at Lucas and whispered, "Vibrations."

"Vibrations? Like… how?"

Sonic raised an eyebrow. "I… uh. I feel vibrations in the wall. Dunno how else to explain it."

Gulp. "Is there something back there?"

"I wouldn't know, would I?" Both Lucas and I suddenly went very still. Was he suggesting something? That sounded accusatory… though again, it was probably just my perception of it… "Ah, Lucas? You all right, man?"

"Oh. Sure. I just heard you wrong for a second there."

Sonic blinked. Then, deciding it wasn't important, he leaned forward and slowly pressed one blue ear to the wall, closing his eyes in quiet focus.

"Can you hear anything?"

"I can hear you asking me if I can hear anything. Imagine that."

I grinned. Lucas shot a look at me, but I was pretty sure he was laughing on the inside too.

"But no. I can't hear anything aside from the same annoying sounds you hear. Can feel it, though. There's something going on back there."

"Wow, Sonic," Lucas said, leaning on the bars. "You never cease to amaze me with your intelligent conclusions."

Sonic smiled. "And you never cease to stun me with your flawless sarcasm and cleverness. Oh, and exaggerated compliments. Bet it knocks girls off their feet."

Lucas rolled his eyes and I swear I saw his face go red. Looks like Sonic won this round.

"Oh, what's this? You're blushing." Sonic pushed away from the wall and walked smugly towards the bars between their cells, hands on his hips.

"I'm going to hurt you."

"Be still my beating heart."

Yup, Sonic won.

"Okay, all bullshit aside…" Lucas shook his head. "That noise is _obnoxious_."

"Yeah. Finding out what it is won't exactly make it go away, though, so I guess we should just try not to pay it too much mind." For all of a second, Sonic's words made me feel vastly less uncertain about what Lucas and I had overheard. The hedgehog didn't even care; he just didn't want it annoying him. We _were _making a big deal out of nothing. At least, that's what I thought until he continued on in somewhat quieter tones: "But it is kind of odd. I mean, I'm not the only one a bit weirded out by that, am I?"

Lucas shrugged one shoulder. "It is weird. Maybe just mechanical nonsense? This place is like a robot in building form anyway. With the scanner network, and androids all over the place…"

It didn't sit right with me, and I could tell it didn't sit right with Sonic either. Since he couldn't offer a better explanation, their conversation ended there. I realized that wasn't the only sound that had silenced. The eerie creaking had taken a break. I didn't know how long it would stay gone, but I hoped that if it came back again, I'd be in too deep of a sleep to notice.

xxx

Tails buckled himself in the pilot's seat of the Tornado as he had done countless times before. This time, though, there was so much more reason to it. Anxiety and determination fought each other in his stomach. Drawing a deep breath, he started the plane's engine.

"Ready Espio?" The chameleon was positioned on one of the wings, grasping the front of it with one hand. He gave a single nod. "Amy?"

"You bet I'm ready! Let's take off!"

The engine roared to life with a load hum. Tails sped the plane down the ramp and directed it gracefully into the indigo evening sky.

"I still don't understand," the fox said. "I mean, even though it's a fake Knuckles, it's weird that he'd have Vector and Charmy helping him. He impersonates Knux pretty well, as far as we can tell, so you'd think he'd _know _that Knuckles doesn't ask for help very often."

"It is weird," Amy admitted. "Maybe—"

"He's up to something," Espio interrupted. Amy shot him a sarcastic 'no really' look. "It appears to me as though he's trying to distract those two from something else, and the oddness of that is supposed to distract _me _in turn."

"But why not hire you to help guard the Master Emerald as well, then?" Amy pressed.

"I'm quite… intuitive. If there is something he doesn't want us to know, perhaps he realizes I would be the first to figure it out. Or perhaps it's the threat I pose as a lifelong ninja. I don't know for sure, but it doesn't change the fact that we must learn more."

"Okay," Tails said, jumping back into the conversation. "Espio's got the easy part here, so let's you and me go over the plan while we're on the way. He knows what he's doing. Not to say that you don't," he added quickly.

"Right, I know what you mean," Amy said. "I trust that you trust me."

"Uh, yeah," the fox replied ineptly. "Listen, above all else, remember to leave the Chaos Emeralds with me. I really don't want to take them at all, but I think it's better to do that than just leave them here unattended."

"I will. In fact, here." The pink hedgehog leaned forward and set the two Chaos Emeralds on the edge of Tails's seat. "That way we won't forget. So you're going to use your radar to try and get a map of the inside of Meka Tower, and meanwhile Espio and I…"

Tails halted her with a finger. "I'm not so sure about that first part," he admitted. "I'm going to see what I can do, but I don't know if I'll be able to get a good read on it since it's inside. Either way, though, we'll have to follow through with the rest of the plan anyway."

"Definitely. So as I was saying…"

"Sorry."

"Once we get on the grounds of Meka Tower, I'm going to get off the plane and try and cause a distraction so that Espio can try and find a way in the prison. Right?"

"That's the plan. I doubt we'll get too far the first time around, though. Nobody's escaped, so I'm thinking it'll be just as challenging to do the reverse, too. Still, this is Espio's element. If anyone can figure out how to sneak in, it'll be him. But Amy…" the fox looked at her meaningfully. "Be careful. It's not like you can camouflage like Espio can. You're fair game for any robots that come along. I'll be close by with the plane in Cyclone mode, but if any of them get their hands on us, our mission is over."

"Don't you worry about me, Tails. Those stupid robots don't know what they're getting into if they pick a fight with Amy Rose!"

The hedgehog's cheerful confidence was contagious, but Tails knew better than to get ahead of himself. "I hope you're right," he said, "but just remember that we might encounter some of the same robots that captured Sonic."

"Well you've already encountered them twice, haven't you? They didn't catch you then, Tails! We can do this!"

"I was _really _lucky both times," Tails said. "And they _did _catch me. Only reason I'm not in Meka Tower is because the first time we got away and found a hiding spot, and the second time the robot's grip on me slipped because of rain. Sonic didn't have either of those advantages out here in the sand dunes, and neither will we this time around."

Amy sat back in her seat, looking sobered.

"Tails," Espio called from the wing. "We're getting close. I can see the fence. You probably will not have much time to land before you are detected. I will take Amy and jump off when we are a reasonable distance from the ground so that you can keep going without having to land at all."

"That sounds like a great idea, Espio!" the girl said before Tails could draw breath to respond.

"Actually, it does," the fox admitted. "Just let me know when."

Suddenly, the radar went off, indicating the presence of a Chaos Emerald in the prison. Nobody paid it any acknowledgement; it was hardly a surprise.

"Hey Tails," Amy said, looking hesitant. "You know, you have to be careful too. If something happens to Espio or me, you should keep yourself safe, that way not all of us end up in the prison."

He swallowed. "I… I know that."

"It might even be a good thing if Espio goes in there. He can be invisible and not attract the attention of robots or Eggman. Maybe he can even find Sonic!"

"I sure hope so, Amy. But there's no need for us to get ourselves stuck in there. I know you miss Sonic, but it's best if you help from outside the prison right now."

"Don't you miss him too?"

Tails looked taken aback. "Of course I do. That's why I'm doing everything I can do save him. But going in there recklessly will just make things take longer, as much as I'm tempted to. Amy… promise me you'll do everything you can to avoid capture. Besides, I still need someone to watch the Chaos Emeralds for me."

"I will, I will," she said. "It's just wishful thinking. Can't I miss him?"

"Amy, you should come out here on the wing with me," Espio said. "We've arrived. Tails, could you lower us a little more inside the fence?"

"Yup. Let Amy get herself out there first. There we go… descending now. Hold on tight, you two!"

The Tornado tipped forward in its descent, a motion that would have caused Amy and Espio to lose their footing if it wasn't already balanced out by the plane's forward velocity. As it was, they both crouched down on the wing and grasped its edge with their hands anyway.

"Amy, would you like me to hold you on the jump down?"

Amy smiled at him. "What a gentleman! Now if only Sonic would treat me like that!"

"So that should be interpreted as a yes," Espio said. "Okay, get ready. We're still at a lethal height but I want to be prepared." He paused. "Broken leg height now… broken ankle… Okay. Here will be safe. Wrap your arms around my neck."

As Amy did so, the chameleon camouflaged. She could see her hands though his neck. Then he scooped her up in his invisible arms and leapt.

Before she even had a chance to scream, they plunged into a sand dune, its softness absorbing the impact of the fall. Above them, Tails swerved the Tornado back outside the fence, putting a considerable cushion of distance in between.

Amy dug herself out of the sand and hastily dusted off her outfit. She heard Espio get up somewhere nearby and pull out his shuriken.

"Is your communicator on?" he whispered to her, turning so that they were back to back.

"It's always on."

"Let us do this as quickly as possible. If we can find or create an opening, I'm going to go in."

Amy wondered how to even begin. The unspoken question was answered for her very quickly by the sounds of metallic clanking. Robots that had been guarding the outside of the prison were running at them, blue eyes focused and relentless. She growled under her breath, trying to muster the courage she would need for this, when Espio leaned in and whispered in her ear:

"Weave in and out of them. Avoid at all costs. Defeating them won't help anyone, and taking further risk is pointless in this situation. I'll slow down somewhat in case one of us needs the other. We must get to the tower."

"I hear you," the girl said, glaring forward determinedly and taking out her red and yellow mallet. "And I'm faster than you think. Let's do this."

Together – though only one of them was visible – they plowed forward at a run. As if in response, missiles shot out from automatic launchers on the sides of the tower, piercing the air with their speed and screeching whistles. It took all of five seconds for them to close the distance, and the two allies just barely avoided being struck as puffs of sand and dust exploded around them.

Another round of missiles chased the heels of the first one. They weren't homing missiles, but the sheer number of them made up for any lack of precision as the ground was dotted with craters. Amy felt sand go in her eyes, nose and mouth and coughed violently. Espio wasn't coughing. She couldn't even hear the chameleon's footsteps over the scream of the sudden assault…

Explosions surrounded her as the few guard robots were obliterated in the storm of missiles, caught unawares. It hardly mattered. They were insignificant by comparison.

Her knees and calves ached with the effort of pressing forward. She had been running less than a minute, but it was like the earth itself was trying to hold her back. Her feet drowned in the sand each time they hit the ground, letting it get in her shoes and socks. On the edge of panic, she sped up, eyes set on the tower, trying to bring it closer with her gaze.

But what could she even do when she got there? This wasn't going to get any better.

_Sonic… _she thought, desperately.

Sonic wouldn't even think that way. She knew it. He would dash into the situation with the full knowledge that things could spiral out of control and be confident anyway.

She had that quality too… when she was _with _him. When he wasn't around, it was like a piece of her was missing, like she had lost her life support…

_What's wrong with me? It shouldn't be that way. I've got to do this for myself, too._

Amy clutched her weapon tighter, and sought those feelings and emotions, sought that courage and confidence… tried to bring it forth from within instead of drawing upon it from someone else. The tower was getting closer. The missiles smacked the ground like a heavy rain. Sand was making her eyes and throat sting agonizingly. She didn't know what to do.

_But I will do it anyway._

Then more projectiles came from the opposite direction – gunshots clattering against the sides of Meka Tower, destroying the offending launchers. The last of the missiles hit the ground anticlimactically. Amy sighed in relief.

She had forgotten about the Tornado for a second there.

Only seconds later, there was an announcement over the fuzzy intercom: "_Attention fellow androids. An intruder has been detected on the tower grounds. Infiltration attempt suspected. Main entrance opened; deploy four attack androids._"

Amy halted and turned toward the entrance. The androids ran out in quick succession, wasting no time, and the door slid shut again.

Maybe they weren't so insignificant after all. The missiles would not take care of them for her this time.

"Espio…?" she said as the androids came toward her, wondering if he was carrying out his part of the plan. He didn't answer. She backed away from the group of robots cautiously, confidence faltering, and risked a glance up at the Tornado. It was making a wide circle outside Meka Tower's perimeter, leaving a light trail in its wake. "Tails," she breathed into her communicator, working around the grainy feeling in her throat, "now would be a good time to be on standby…"

"Already? What's wrong?"

"I don't know where Espio went! I think… I think he ran off to search around already, and now I'm alone facing four androids!" _At least, I hope that's why he's not responding._

"That was the plan, wasn't it?"

"Yes… yes it was!" she said, regaining her nerve. "I didn't expect to be alone, is all. I'm sorry, I let fear overcome me for a second. Time to do my part!"

"Just hang in there, Amy! Try and avoid them. I'm coming."

Amy let her hand drop, planting her feet in the ground and staring the robots down. "Hey!" she shouted at them, meeting the eyes of the one closest to her. "What do you guys think you're doing?"

"What do _we _think _we're _doing? I think you are the one should be answering that question."

Teal-green eyes flashed defiantly. "Well I asked you first!"

"Oh boy," said another android. "This was the threat? Let's go back inside. It's cooler in there."

"Wait," said the third. "We must act. She found a way inside the fence, which means her presence is no accident. Should we capture her?"

"You guys are awfully cocky," Amy said, "talking about your ideas right here in front of me!" _Please hurry, Tails._

"You are quite bold yourself, coming to such a place alone. What are you doing here?"

"Stupid," snapped the fourth android. "Don't converse with her. She is _trying _to stall!"

"I propose we _do not _capture her. If she bothered to come here, she could be working for an outside source we do not know of. If we took her inside the prison, she may be able to communicate with such a source to help them infiltrate it."

"You're pretty smart for saying that," Amy chimed in. "Good AI systems you've got. I wouldn't try to capture me either. All four of you would regret it."

"Would we, now? Well, perhaps we should just see for ourselves. You come off to me as having a worse bark than—"

"I said _stop _conversing with her, fool!" said the irritable android in the back.

"What do _you _propose, then? Let her go? Call for Master Eggman?"

"Don't even think about it!" Amy yelled, taking a step towards them that she hoped looked threatening. "If you even try, I'll smash you to pieces right now."

"Oh really?" Irritable asked. When it spoke next, its voice echoed over the intercom. "Master Eggman, if you would, please report down to the—"

It never finished the request. Out of nowhere, the Cyclone landed on top of the group, crushing them all beneath its heavy legs. In the cockpit, the two-tailed pilot looked somewhat surprised with himself, smiling coyly.

"Good job," the two said to each other simultaneously.

"So much for Cyclone-form," the fox muttered, pressing a button. The machine changed back to its biplane basis, wings extending to their full length and legs retracting out of visibility. He gestured for Amy to climb in. She did, using chunks of broken robot as a stepstool. She was breathless from exertion and adrenaline, coughing dryly. "You okay?" Tails asked her.

"Y-yeah. I think so. Ugh, I feel like there's sand in my lungs."

"Good job through all that. Really." Tails smiled. "That was pretty cool."

"Hehe, thanks, Tails!"

"Sure thing. Hey, why don't you check in with Espio while I get us back in the safe zone for now?"

Amy activated her communicator and raised her wrist to her face. Her heart was pounding, and not only because she was worn out. "Espio," she began tentatively, "are you okay? I'm up in the air with Tails again. I don't know where you went."

There was a moment of tense silence as they waited for his response. Then: "I'm inside. When the robots came out, I went in." Tails and Amy looked at each other excitedly. Then the detective continued hastily: "But listen, you two. Unless it is an emergency, please let me contact you from now on instead of the other way around. I may be invisible, but that will not stop an android from hearing your voices through my communicator."

"I was worried," Amy said. "I thought for a second that something had happened!"

"I apologize for making you concerned. I heard you trying to contact me but didn't want to respond and make my presence known."

"It's all right, I understand. What is it like in there?"

"I haven't seen enough of it to know yet. Right now I am walking through a curving hallway, with dark violet lights. Smooth metal walls. Low ceiling, wide path. And it's cold. Everyone is behind bars, along both sides. Most of them aren't saying anything to each other, or doing much themselves save for sleeping. It is not a content kind of quiet, mind you. This place feels like… hopelessness. I would not have expected Eggman to let things get out of hand like this."

"Don't get locked in a cell like them," Tails said. "You'll stay invisible, right?"

"It takes a concentrated effort to blend in, so I will need to find a safe hiding place to sleep."

"You can't sleep like that? Why didn't you say anything before?"

"Because we have to do something," the chameleon replied simply. There was something different about the quality of his voice. Leaking out from behind the calm, neutral exterior was something like concern… maybe even compassion. Tails and Amy both leaned a little closer to the communicator. "I'm no superhero," Espio continued quietly, "but this has become so much bigger than a loss of clients. The simple fact of the matter is that Eggman must be stopped."

"About time everyone else got it," Amy said, but there was no bitterness in her voice; only apprehension.

"Well, at least something finally went right for a change," Tails pointed out. "All three of us are okay, and we did what we came here to do. Now you and I can go back to my workshop, Amy, and figure out what to do about the Master Emerald."

"Yes, we have to get it away from that imposter! Just who is he, anyway? I thought Knuckles was the last echidna…"

"That is what you two must find out," Espio said through the communicator. "Find a way to secure the Master Emerald and protect it, and I will try to find out what I can about this place. Though it would help if your radar could assist me, Tails."

"Oh, right! Hold on one second… okay…" he trailed off, pressing buttons and typing in adjustments on the control panel. Amy could barely follow his movements with her eyes, but she saw the radar zoom in on the dot signifying Meka Tower. The picture came clear, and the layout was visible on the screen. "Okay, this worked just like I hoped it would!" Tails said. "I have access to the interior of Meka Tower!"

"Great to know," Espio said. "Is it possible you could save that data, so that you could continue on with your plans while still guiding me through the tower?"

"Already done!" the fox said happily. "We're finally making progress, guys!"

Amy picked up the two Chaos Emeralds from their spots next to Tails and held them to her bosom. "Let's keep making progress, then! It's time Eggman was put back in his place, and all these people were set free!"

xxx

As usual, Lucas's and Sonic's chattering woke me in the morning. This time, though, it was somewhat more somber than what I usually heard from them.

"Sometimes I feel like our fate is in the hands of everyone outside this prison," Lucas mumbled. "Like we can't even really do anything about it."

Sonic was sitting with his back supported against the wall, reaching out towards his toes, stretching taut muscles. He glanced up at the sound of Lucas's negative tone, looking somewhat irritated. "Why? You don't call destroying that scanner doing something about it? I thought we already went over all this."

"Well, yeah, but destroying the scanner doesn't help _us _at all. We're no closer to getting out of here, and I know you hate that every bit as much as I do."

Taking his time, the blue blur leaned into his stretch, putting his head down towards his knees and drawing a deep breath. "We'll get out."

"Don't you ever doubt?"

"What?"

"Don't you ever doubt? I'm happy about what we've done so far too, but it just doesn't seem like enough. You know?"

"Don't we all doubt now and then?" Sonic asked in return. Apparently satisfied with his stretching, he got to his feet, rocking from his toes to his heels and back.

"You tell me."

They both paused for a moment when the whiny metallic vibration came back. It had been doing so intermittently throughout the night, though it was somewhat quieter now than it had been initially. It was still unsettling, and downright annoying. Sonic had moved his bedroll to the front of his cell, saying that the floor didn't seem to rattle as much over there.

I couldn't feel it at all. Lucas barely could. Whatever it was, it was confined tightly to Sonic's cell.

"I don't doubt you," the hedgehog said when the moment passed. "I don't doubt me. I don't doubt my other friends outside this place." He shrugged as if he had had his say, but his last sentence ended on the tone of a comma. Lucas watched him expectantly, waiting to hear the rest. Finally, Sonic obliged. "Sometimes I doubt the situation itself, I guess. It gets crazy boring in here, sometimes to the point where it feels like life decided to stop changing or something. And I miss running.

"But hey, we had that great opportunity the other day," the hedgehog continued on, cheerful now, though I had a feeling it was partially for Lucas's sake, "and that proves we don't have to wait for someone else to save the day. I shattered the scanner and you disabled two androids… and that was only _us_. I think that's pretty cool. Think what we can do if we can get the rest of the floor to be this active… or even this hallway. Heck, this hallway's already getting started. You're not giving up, are ya?"

"No," Lucas said quickly. "Of course not. I guess every now and then it feels overwhelming. It's hard not to worry sometimes."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Just making sure."

"Sonic… the same goes for you, right?"

"Hm?"

Lucas swallowed, and made eye contact with me for the briefest of moments. Again I was struck with uncertainty, feeling like I should say something. I didn't. Instead I pulled away from his gaze so that I didn't have to see the uncertainty in his eyes either. "You're not going to give up either, right?" he finally asked, looking back at Sonic. "No matter what?"

Appearing to sense Lucas's peculiar unease – even if he couldn't pinpoint the cause – Sonic met his eyes with a rare expression of sincerity. The determination etched into his face made me want to believe things were really going to be okay. He didn't grin and answer Lucas with a casual response like I'd come to expect of him; instead he deliberately repeated the man's words right back to him, each one carrying significance and authenticity: "No matter what."

xxx

"_Running away? Who do you think I am?" –Sonic, Zero Gravity_

xxx

_IN CHAPTER 12:_ Somewhere in the mystery there are answers to questions. Questions to answers. Light shines brightest in the dark… but shadows look darkest in the light.

Not much for me to say this time around. Thanks for reading! See ya next time!


	13. Chapter 12: The Price of Hope

Hey guys. :)  
>Dib, I'm grinning extensively at the expression on your face right now. And, thank you. :)<br>And, I'm thinking 'try not to kill me if you can help it' is a somewhat more apropos way to get this one rolling than 'HAY GUIZE ENJOY. :D'

Try not to kill me if you can help it.

...Enjoy. XD

CHAPTER 12: THE PRICE OF HOPE

xxx

Third-person perspective

xxx

Sonic had his arms through two separate spaces at the top of his front window, fingers intertwined tightly on the other side of the bars to provide him the leverage he needed to hold himself up. His feet were pressed against the gate for extra support. At first he had thought to climb up onto the ledge completely so he wouldn't have to hold himself up by his hands, but upon glimpsing the monotony of the hallway, had decided he wouldn't be up there all that long anyway.

He checked on things now and then. Just to see if it ever changed.

In the cell across the violet hallway was girl with dirty-blonde hair, dressed in dark clothes and looking to be in her late teens. He had no idea how long she had been there, as he had not seen her arrive, but from the look on her face as she glanced up at him, she was painfully shy, and not at all happy about being noticed. Though most of the people on Sonic's floor were now doing their best to take advantage of and even _enjoy_ their circumstances, this inconspicuous individual seemed incapable of any kind of emotion save for fear. She looked as if she might have even been suspicious about the surrounding air of confidence… as if she thought all the other prisoners were somehow involved in this plot.

It was on this young woman that a portion of Sonic's characteristically scattered attention was focused. He considered speaking to her, offering her some sort of consolation. He knew she would need some time to adapt if she was indeed new – or even if she _wasn't, _for that matter – but if nothing else, interacting with her couldn't hurt, right?

Just as he drew a breath to address her, something wrenched him backwards. His knuckles popped painfully as his laced fingers were forced apart and his arms were pulled back through the bars. Before he could begin to register what was happening, he hit the back wall with a loud thud – but he didn't fall to the ground from there.

His wrists and ankles stung as the magnetic plates held them to the panel.

"Sonic!" In the neighboring cell, Lucas ran up to the window between them, his frantic hands grasping the bars. When he saw Sonic stuck to the wall, his eyes grew wide, revealing a degree of anxiety the hedgehog didn't think should be there. "_Shit…_ not this again, not this!"

It had been a respectable amount of time since Lucas had sworn in front of him and meant it. Ever since Sonic had destroyed the scanner, things had been different for him. Spirited. Playful. Coincidentally, just before that was when the hedgehog's magnets had been activated the first time. In retrospect, he realized Lucas was not nearly as alarmed that time as he was now.

_What changed?_

As he took in his friend's naked fear, Sonic's own anxiety levels rose. When an individual's reaction to something seemed unwarranted, it was rarely because it actually _was_ unwarranted. Experience had taught him it usually meant the person was aware of something he was not.

Whatever that something was had Lucas looking concerned on a level Sonic rarely saw him. He decided not to ask. Dangerous situations were hardly anything new to him anyway, right? _Right…?_

A minute passed.

"So." The voice of the blue blur betrayed slight strain as he tried to ignore the subcutaneous magnets pinching his skin to the wall. "I've got a long list," he mused, "of things that I want to do in my life. Empathizing with a refrigerator magnet wasn't at the top of that list."

The consequential awkwardness of Sonic's comparison seemed to put a pause to the shock of the situation. Lucas blinked. "…It was on your list at all?"

Sonic reconsidered his wording. "…No. No, it wasn't."

The concrete door to Sonic's cell slammed open hard enough to make the bars rattle. The hedgehog's gaze followed the loud sound to its source: Eggman.

Surprise, surprise.

It was the second time his cell door had been opened during his two-month stay, and again, he couldn't so much as _touch _the hope of escape.

Doctor Eggman looked more threatening and more alive than Sonic could ever recall seeing him. He also looked unimaginably furious. He was holding what looked like a compacted control panel – _I suppose that would be called a remote, _Sonic added mentally – which he knew had activated the magnets under his skin.

He was also holding the red Chaos Emerald.

"Well, you took long enough," the blue blur said without gravity, acting deliberately oblivious. "I've been hanging around up here for like a day now. Gonna try and stuff me into a scanner again? You know, last time this happened, I told one of your robots to let you know you have to be _fit _to go fast. Was hoping he'd pass along the message, but judging by how long it took you to get here, he obviously didn't."

The doctor ignored his banter as he walked into the cell. Expression unreadable, he pulled something out of his pocket and set it in the far corner of the room.

"We're going to have a conversation, Sonic," he said as he set up the device. "This is the intercom loudspeaker, so that everyone else in Meka Tower can take part passively while we engage in this little discussion. I'd like them to hear what you have to say about a few things."

The doctor turned to him then, leveling him with a sinister glare. The blue blur met it with a neutral expression he hoped wouldn't give away his sudden apprehension.

_M'kay then, he's in one of his serious business moods. _

"You," Eggman said to Lucas in a menacing whisper, "fall under that 'passive' category, and are to remain quiet with everyone else." Even as he hissed the words, his vision was centered in on Sonic, as if his eyes were locked forward.

"Just listen to him, Lucas," Sonic said as calmly as he could manage, catching the man's gaze and holding it, knowing it was foolish for him to attempt to stop Eggman under the circumstances. For his part, Lucas was watching the sudden confrontation with something like faith, recognizing the air of burning determination that truly made Sonic who he was, that served as the foundational pillar behind all the humor and smugness. It was instances like these that reminded him he was in fact the neighbor of a famous hero, even if said instances only consisted of heated dialogue.

In fact, he was very sincerely _hoping_ it would only consist of heated dialogue…

The scientist crossed his arms and approached Sonic with unnerving swiftness, his open red coat swinging behind him like a cape. The suppressed rage that had been obvious from the start boiled over now. "Do you have _any _idea how much trouble you've caused me in the recent weeks? Do you?" Danger danced in his eyes and he grasped the hedgehog's upper arm hard enough to leave a bruise. "I finally had these people seeing reason, and now you've caused them to rebel. It has even spread to several other floors! They're no longer interested in being under my righteous rule, and on top of that, you destroyed one of my Chaos scanners, among the most important aspects of this whole thing! Do you know how far this sets me back?"

"No! How far?" Sonic asked eagerly.

Eggman glowered at him. "Cute," he said in a tone that implied he thought the exact opposite. "You think you're funny, don't you? You think your ability to mouth off to me under pressure proves something about yourself? Some kind of strength?"

"Oh come _on_ now," Sonic said, "I'm just trying to keep things light around here. You're just seeing it that way because you know I _am _stronger than you."

The scientist dropped to a knee so that he could be face to face with his adversary. At his reduced height, he was still slightly taller than Sonic, even though the hedgehog's predicament had his feet clearing the ground by a few inches. "Maybe you've beaten me time and time again," Eggman said in a quiet voice meant only for him, "but I've got to win only once to have everything under control. It's the war that matters, Sonic, not the petty battles. And while you've won many battles, I will be victorious in the war."

"Even if everyone else involved in this gives in to you," Sonic responded in an equally hushed voice, "I won't. And you know you can count on that. I'll find a way out of this, and I'll save all of _them_, too!"

"Spouting off again. So like you, Sonic." Eggman fixed the blue hero with a deliberately unreadable expression, still mere inches from his face. "You're a hardheaded pest, you know that?"

"Hah!" Sonic snorted. "You'd know about that, wouldn't ya?"

"This is that moment where you're supposed to shut up."

"Who, me? Why should I? It's not going to change anything that's about to happen, now, is it? All the more reason to have my say."

Eggman rose to his full stature again. "If that's how you want to play it" – he tossed the Chaos Emerald up and down in his hand – "how about I take a step toward winning this war right now, and prevent you from further swaying my people? Hm?"

"_Your people_? Are you—yeah, I already knew you were crazy," Sonic muttered under his breath, interrupting himself. He looked back up at the doctor, wishing he could cross his arms. "Even if you could stop _me_, which is a massive 'if' by the way, what makes you think you're going to be able to convince _thousands of people_ I'm wrong and you're right?"

"Because, dear hedgehog, as you have proven lately, people are malleable. I have little doubt that when people hear how I stopped you from continuing this pointless fight, they will not be feeling quite so obstinate."

Sonic raised his eyebrows, letting the red light from the room flash across vibrant green irises. "Wanna try?" Off to the side, he saw Lucas vigorously shake his head, discouraging his attitude. He dismissed the warning, smirking and breaking off eye contact.

He thought he knew what he was getting into. Thought he knew what he was doing. Thought he could take care of everything.

Lucas glanced to the cell across the hallway, into Amber's apprehensive gaze.

And that was when realization struck like lightning.

The androids' midnight conversation. It had never been a trick. They had spoken aloud without reservation… because everyone around them was oppressed. What threat did anyone pose to them or even Eggman? They wouldn't have cared if Sonic himself had heard them. His life was beyond his control. Nothing could be stopped.

_Chaos energy. Pure emotion._

…_Fear._

The girl saw it cross his face. "Lucas… _what?_"

Feeling sick, Lucas shook his head and turned back towards his window, towards the two opposing forces.

"Wh-what are you afraid of, Sonic?"

They met eyes again. The question lingered in the air, seeming distinctly out of place for an instant. Then Sonic realized it wasn't a question at all, but an implication. Lucas was trying to warn him.

Eggman turned away from Sonic so fast he felt the wind. He approached the barred window between the cells and stared Lucas in the face. "I said you were to remain quiet!"

"I was too scared before to say anything," he said, his words an uneasy cacophony. There was anxiety in his eyes, but not enough to curtail the hate etched into the creases of his expression. "It shouldn't have mattered… I'm saying something now: if you're thinking what I think you are, don't you dare!" Sonic wanted to call out to him and tell him to stop rambling and getting himself in trouble, but the dreadful curiosity that suddenly took him over prevented him from uttering a word. He kept silent, listening as Lucas's voice grew into a passionate roar: "Let him _fight back, _you goddamn coward! Let him fight back!" He shook the bars in his white-knuckle grip, making them rattle. "Get away from him!"

"Oh, _I'm _a coward? Why did it take you so long to warn your blue friend, Lucas?"

The man inhaled a sharp breath through his teeth, enraged. "Don't even go there! I didn't know anything aside from that you had a plan, which was obvious already! It wouldn't… wouldn't have stopped you anyway!"

"Indeed," the doctor said in a sinister whisper. "Just as your incessant rambling won't stop me. Away with you."

"No! Away with _you_! It's not even fair! So what if he destroyed your machine? Don't you have more on the other floors? Don't you know what this'll do to him, what it'd do to anyone?"

Sonic's heart rate was skyrocketing. Lucas's fright was contagious. He pulled so hard against the magnetic force that a muscle in his arm began to cramp. "What's not even fair?" He demanded, voice rising in panic. "Eggman…! You better start explaining!"

Desperate to serve a purpose in this battle, Lucas met Sonic's eyes and began shouting what he had heard, but with Eggman angrily yelling back at him, the whole storm of noise was incomprehensible. The only bit he could make out was at the very end, in the form of Eggman's loud holler: "If you say another word you'll be next in line!"

Then all three of them fell silent; Eggman because it had been his final say, Lucas because he was held immobile by the threat in those words, and Sonic because of utter confusion.

The doctor drew in a breath and let it out. Then he obliged Sonic, beginning to explain as had been requested, doing so only because he knew it would do little to make his enemy feel better. "This Chaos Emerald is invisibly linked to a device in my control room that is able to read it and decipher its activity. Chaos Emeralds as you know are driven by emotion. But, if my plan for these people is to work, I need to know first that I can _control_ people with Chaos energy as I suspect. And, you see… fear is an incredibly pure and potent emotion. Since you have shown on multiple occasions that you are able to utilize the Chaos Emeralds, you will be able to reveal if this works. _Your _very emotions, Sonic, will fuel negative Chaos energy, and in turn you – and the others in Meka Tower eventually – will be under my control. That is, if negative energy lets me have such control. But that is what we are aiming to find out, isn't it? You will attempt to draw on its power…"

He let the sentence trail off, but it didn't matter. The sentence had already finished itself in Sonic's mind.

…_To escape your fears._

"Will not," the blue blur mumbled defiantly under his breath, but something had happened to his eyes. There was no doubt as to where this was going.

"To what end?" Lucas demanded, voice quivering now, hands still gripping the bars tight enough to raise his veins. "There's no way this—!"

"…Could possibly work, could possibly be a means to my end? My dear soon-to-be comrade, Chaos Emeralds are deep, dangerous objects, and very potent. But Sonic is the only one who has both the ability and the skill to use Chaos energy right now. Therefore, he is the only one who can reveal if this will work." He turned back to Sonic. "But I don't need to explain. The bigger picture is for another day. One thing at a time, right, hedgehog? If this works, I will have the foothold to creating the army of the Eggman Empire."

Eggman took several long strides toward him, and his angry conviction seemed to be twisted into the very air around him. "Lucas…" Sonic finally managed, voice heavy with the breathlessness of dread, heart pressing on his stomach like a weight. "Please… get yourself uninvolved." He couldn't make eye contact with his friend; couldn't pull his vision away from Doctor Eggman coming toward him. But Lucas's lack of response spoke for itself.

It was the only thing relieving about the situation.

He had noticed it many times before in the last two months; the magnetic slab of metal he was being held to was in fact a panel built into the wall, not part of the wall itself. It shifted now, moving outwards several feet before turning on its axis to a horizontal position and then some.

The thing creaked with every inch of its movement. Straining to adjust itself. Vibrating. Whining. Moaning.

"Eggman…" he said, ears folding down against his head for reasons other than the sound. "You know nothing you try ever works."

The doctor paused and looked down at the blue blur. "You are afraid indeed."

Sonic tore his stare away from the evil scientist. "Of you?" he muttered indignantly, shedding away some of the weakness. "Please. Kai is scarier than you."

"Is he now?"

The hedgehog raised a brow but didn't resume eye contact. "Well, you ever been attacked by something in the middle of the night?" he asked. "But following _that_ logic, I guess you'd have to come and jump on me in the middle of the night like he did for me to compare who's scarier… err… on second thought… never mind."

Eggman didn't dignify his rambling with a response. He merely stood there with his arms crossed, shifting his stare elsewhere, as though thinking. Considering. Hesitating.

Eggman never hesitated. Never thought about something twice. That something had enough gravity for him to do so now was utterly terrifying.

Sonic began to grow uncomfortable as the doctor looked back down to watch him, gauging his emotions. "Do I… have something stuck in my fur?" he asked, blinking. "Sorry. I mean, it's not like I can get it out at the moment. Hands restrained, and all." He wiggled his fingers for emphasis. "Of course, you're more than welcome to free me for a sec so I can take care of that."

Eggman sighed, wondering for a moment who really had the worse end of the stick.

Sonic realized he didn't know about the Chaos Emerald any more than Eggman did. Its energy was resonating in the very air, welcoming him to it… but it still required a conscious mental effort, one he refused to make. He had never transformed with a Chaos Emerald for such a reason as fear of harm; he could get out of most threatening situations himself. He had only ever used them as a means to stop the threat Eggman posed to society. Would it even respond…?

He glared up at Eggman, the expression effectively concealing whatever he had accidentally let the doctor see. _Yeah, well, you're still kidding yourself if you think I'll go down easy…_

"Droids," the doctor said decisively, still not looking away from his victim, "now would be a fantastic time to do your part." The droids in question materialized from the air on either side of Eggman, landing on the floor so gracefully that the tap was nearly inaudible. They were human in shape just like all the others, with their glowing blue eyes and smooth, hard exteriors. One took a position at Sonic's head, heavy hands pressing him down; the other at his side, opposite Eggman.

In the fingertips of the latter of the two, there were small openings used for the release of water and cleaning agents that kept Eggman's bases in shape. It activated them now, spraying thin, white lines of water at the floor, testing that its mechanisms were functioning correctly.

Then a black cloth suddenly covered Sonic's face. He jerked his head, reflexively trying to shake it off, but the first droid had already tightened it beneath his quills and was tying it in a knot. He couldn't even see through it. It was blacker than the back of his eyelids.

His heart rate soared. He could feel the blood pumping against the inner walls of his veins. But this was not the kind of adrenaline rush he enjoyed.

"Hey! Eggman! This isn't funny!" Sonic said, voice muffled by the cloth.

"It's not this time, is it, dear hedgehog? Certainly a nice change." Sonic could hear the sinister smile in his tone. Eggman snapped his fingers. The robot across from him directed its hands at the cloth on Sonic's face and again released water from the openings. "I suppose that means we're doing this right so far, yes?"

Sonic did not respond. His slender form went rigid. At first glance, the sudden reaction seemed to be only from surprise and tension as the water hit his face. Though that was no small portion of it, his torso was completely still, indicating that he was holding his breath and that his reaction was indeed intended.

The cloth dampened.

_Okay… gotta focus and figure out a way out of this… just breathe… no, wait, DON'T breathe! Ehehe, out-of-context self talk is almost as bad as… self talk._

xxx

At the side window, Lucas turned away, sliding down against the wall until his rear end touched the floor. He let his head sink into his hands, hating himself for not saying something sooner than he had, but also knowing it wouldn't have changed a thing. He had never had enough information to help. Nobody had.

Sonic wouldn't want him to watch, wouldn't want to be seen like that. It was all Lucas could do to show him that small respect now.

Kai came into his cell and met his eyes. Neither of them lashed out at the other. There was a silent, mutual agreement that none of that mattered anymore. "It would have just made it worse, telling him ahead of time, wouldn't it?" The young male asked desperately. "I… I didn't even _know!_ It would have been pointless… and why let it bother him when nothing could ever have been done?"

The dark green chao had a sad, sympathetic smile on his face as he brought himself to the level of the human's eyes. He could not put words to his feelings as most of the surrounding beings could, but the shiny layer of moisture in his eyes said everything.

They both flinched at the rasping cry that suddenly came from the other cell, intermixed with frantic gasping.

xxx

"Have anything smart to say now, Sonic?" Eggman asked, lowering the cloth from Sonic's face and wedging it below his chin. The hedgehog was rendered incapable of response, even if he had one. He tossed his head back and forth, trying to shake the cloth off all together. It was tied in the crevice between two of his large spikes and refused to move.

Before he could finish expelling the water in his nose and throat, his face was covered again. He gasped in air through his clenched teeth and held it. It took all the willpower he had not to scream in panic, because he knew that if he did, he would waste that precious oxygen in his lungs. He needed it to last him long enough to think of what to do.

The cold moisture weighed down on the cloth, making it cling to his face, forcing any pockets of air out. He squeezed his eyes shut tight, refusing to submit to the dull ache in his lungs, telling himself to wait it out, knowing that the ache could not be satisfied even if he did try to breathe.

It was like the world stood still. His ten-by-ten cell was all that existed.

When the inevitable moment came, there was no air to inhale. The cloth suctioned against his mouth and nostrils. His chest heaved as he fought to draw a breath anyway. All he got was water. It burned as it went up his nose. He tried to swallow what was in his mouth. He coughed once as water trickled into his throat, the same way one would cough when swallowing a drink the wrong way… only when he was forced to inhale for another cough, all that came in was more water. He tried to hold his breath again, but his body, needing so desperately to get rid of the intrusion, would not let him.

Something had to happen… That's how it was supposed to work now… This had to stop…

Just as he began to wonder if he could pull away hard enough to reopen the scars on his hands and ankles and tear himself off the magnets, he felt something cold and solid latch around all four of his limbs near the extremities. They were small, tight semicircles that were attracted to the panel in the same way his magnets were. Eggman had anticipated him doing whatever it took to escape without taking the obvious out, and had prepared accordingly…

Somewhere in the back of his mind was the knowledge that the Chaos Emerald was hovering nearby, and he just might be able to use it to overcome the magnets. But that was exactly what Eggman wanted.

So he _couldn't _do that, right? He had to stop the madman, do what he could to prevent him from discovering the truth about the Chaos Emeralds… whatever that truth was. He couldn't let Eggman succeed; that route was detrimental and devastating.

But so was the one he was taking.

_I can't do this… Chaos have mercy, I can't do this…_

Then there was light in his face again, and his mouth and nose were free. He turned his head to the side as much as he could, trying not to choke on the water he was expelling. The short breaths between his heaving were ragged and strained. Too quickly, everything went dark again and he felt moisture, more moisture than before.

The whole rag was soaked through with water. Sonic could not hold his breath; he had not even been able to steady it again. His nostrils and throat burned like they had been exposed to acid. It was like his head was drowning instead of his lungs. He tried to exhale hard, tried to expel the repulsive intrusion… He couldn't do that either, because the air required to gag it out _wasn't there_… There were too many impossibilities going on at the same time. There was no way out.

Then he felt cool oxygen rushing into his system again. He hacked and spat, barely able to gasp in air in between. Finally he managed to stop himself despite the agonizing tingle in his throat… he had to breathe, had to get some real breaths of air in himself…

The scent of life and liberation… so brief, but there. Freedom.

What was freedom, anyway? Sonic wasn't so sure he remembered.

"My, you seem to be having a hard time sustaining adequate airflow."

_Sustaining adequablahblahblah. Tails makes fancy talk sound way cooler than you do. Loser. _Sonic coughed several times, trying to right himself physically, biologically, mentally – everything was all wrong. Equilibrium was nonexistent. His skin was clammy. His body trembled. His fingertips ran cold from the grip of the metal around his wrists. He looked up at Eggman, eyes way ahead of his voice as far as communication went since he was still waiting on the latter to catch up with him. The maniacal scientist watched him unflinchingly, even leaning on the edge of the metal panel as if in the middle of casual conversation.

"Hm, indeed, I'd say something is impeding your ability to draw breath, dearest Sonic. Most peculiar."

Finally, the addressed managed to push his voice through the unyielding burn in his throat. "Yeah, noticing that myself now that you mention it, doc. I think it has something to do with you taking up all my breathing space."

"Hmhmhm," Eggman chuckled darkly, but didn't say anything for several seconds, still hovering over Sonic and leaning on the side of the table. Then, regaining the composure he had silently lost, the doctor raised an eye ridge and asked too calmly, "Are you insulting my stature?"

"Are you insulting my… lungs?"

_What._

xxx

"Sonic, you seriously need to know when to _shut the hell up,_" Lucas muttered to himself, wishing he could say it aloud but wanting to honor the blue blur's request that he not get involved anymore.

Lucas wanted to get involved. He wanted to _do something_. Anything that would stop this. He didn't care what the apparent purpose of this test was; as far as he was concerned, it was only an excuse for the crazed scientist to take out his failures on the individual who had always caused them…

Kai moaned into Lucas's chest irritably.

"Shh. Don't let him know you're here," the man said under his breath, trying to control the boiling quiver in his voice. "Maybe you should leave… you know, and come back in a few minutes or whatever when… when they're done in there."

The chao had a heartbroken expression as he looked up. Lucas immediately regretted the words.

"Or not. You can stay here with me, okay?" He sighed miserably. "You just don't know what to do with yourself, do you… Let's try not to think about this, all right little guy?"

Putting out a fire with gasoline would have seemed more possible.

xxx

Drowning. He was drowning, unable to surface… A slave to his own respiratory system as it fought for what it couldn't have… It failed every time, made things worse every time… He was sputtering out water, but it was soaking right back into the cloth with the water that was being sprayed onto it continuously.

Everything he did was pointless.

He couldn't inhale. He _couldn't inhale._ He felt more out of breath than he had in his entire life, like he had just run a thousand-mile marathon on a scorching day… the kind of out-of-breath that made you wheeze desperately for air over and over, that made your nostrils dilate to even _begin _to accommodate it.

And he couldn't inhale. Not through the soaking wet cloth. Not even once.

The rag was torn down below his face. It could never have happened soon enough. He spit and gagged and swallowed down oxygen. High-pitched whines he couldn't help came from his throat as he strained to make up for the air his body had lost. His drowning vision began to right itself, pushing past the strange light and dots that had appeared there…

Sonic could see the world around him as if through some kind of visual filter: Eggman, still leaning on the table and looking down at him with malicious joy; the droid above him, appearing upside down; and the other droid at his side, all its fingers still aimed endlessly at his face.

As he caught sight of those assaulting fingers, they seemed to be the only thing his eyes would let him focus on. He was consumed again by the overwhelming need to _not be _in this situation. Closing his eyes, he blocked the sight out, digging through mental reserves for something interesting to say or do to keep Eggman from giving the androids the go-ahead again.

Anything to keep him from giving the go-ahead again…

_Wait… wait, wait – you can't – Need to breathe –_

The Chaos Emerald was hovering straight above him, surrounded by its fiery red aura. He established a link to it in his mind, and didn't draw on any of its power yet, but kept it close mentally. Just in case he had to.

If only that link alone could tell him if the Emerald would even _work _for him, here, now, in such a situation. The Chaos Emeralds had positive and negative energy, but fear was neither good nor evil… He wanted to try so badly, just so he could _know _if the Emerald's energy was accessible. He couldn't imagine not having at least the _option_ to end this…

In the cell across from Sonic's, the blonde-haired girl was leaning against the side wall, face cradled in one hand, looking sick. Eggman caught her gaze for a moment and summoned a patrol android. "Please get her out of here for the moment," he said. "She's one of the few who have been cooperative. We need not frighten her more."

The android quickly entered her cell and removed her from it, taking her to another area.

Eggman turned back around, humor in his expression, but not the good kind.

"No…" Sonic said weakly, ears twitching at the sound of his approaching footsteps, but his tone rose with panic as the piece of material was re-tightened behind his head. "No… nononono_nono!_"

Eggman unfolded his arms and came closer more out of curiosity than actual concern, hearing the signals of genuine distress in his adversary's tone. He signaled to the first droid, who uncovered Sonic again. As the doctor moved into his line of sight, emerald green eyes latched onto his desperately, but Sonic refrained from doing what Eggman knew he wanted to do.

And for what? Sonic had forgotten why it mattered…

_It'd be so easy… so, so easy… what could it possibly affect, anyway—_

"He's fine," Eggman muttered to the droids, holding Sonic's gaze, watching his eyes grow wide with fright, frustrated stubbornness still lingering in there somewhere. Leaning down, he set a condescending hand on the hedgehog's shoulder. "Aren't you, Sonic?"

"Don't touch me," he snarled in response.

"Ahh, nice and feisty." Eggman backed off, making it excessively clear by his posture that he was doing it because _he _felt like it, not because Sonic had demanded it. "More this time," he commanded the androids. "And don't let him up for air until I say so!"

Sonic's view of them was cut off once again by the piece of black. His stomach twisted nauseatingly as what was coming flashed through his mind in a quick burst. He was breathing rapidly – profusely – as he panicked in as much air as he could. When he felt the cold touch of the water penetrating his orifices, submerging his gag reflex, he fought the restraining mechanisms with reckless abandon. Expending so much energy only increased his need for air. Just before he was forced to suck in more of the evil liquid, his wild thrashing shook the cloth below his face. Triumph flitted vaguely across his mind as he processed this monumental achievement.

Breathe. Breathing. Air.

Consoling, filling, smooth as silk…

He was hungry for it, needed it physically, mentally, biologically, instinctively…

Though he could have ordered one of the droids to do it, Doctor Eggman again approached the metal panel and patiently fixed the positioning of the cloth. "Why not get away, Sonic the hedgehog?" he mocked quietly, and any trace of hesitation that might have been in the madman's expression before was long gone.

He reached underneath Sonic's head and retied the knot between his spikes, making the rag so tight it hurt.

Sonic was instinctively trying to cut Eggman's hands with his quills… but to no avail.

A moment passed of terrible, terrible anticipation. Nothing – nothing – could compare to the sickening dread of waiting. Chills shot over his sweaty, matted fur like cold needles. Wet phlegm clung to the back of his throat. All the while he could sense the doctor's prying stare hovering over him like a storm cloud.

It was hell with water instead of fire…

Sonic tightened his mental grasp on the energy emanating from the Chaos Emerald. He surrounded himself with its invisible aura, ready to let it penetrate. The power of one Chaos Emerald would be more than enough to break the magnets' petrifying strength… if it was indeed possible.

Eggman had to stop now. He had to stop _now_. Sonic couldn't endure it one more time. He had been enduring it 'one more time' since the first second. Telling himself he could take a little more… that Eggman would back off… that the moment would come where it would be okay again.

It hadn't come. Not in time.

"Now, my loyal comrades…" Sonic heard his enemy's words through what seemed like a very thick atmosphere, unable to focus through the fog of desperation in his own mind, "you may continue without interruption."

The androids moved in toward him again, their feet clanking audibly on the floor.

Sonic could see hear their steps echoing off the walls, coming closer, closer…

He opened his eyes, fixing them on where he knew the Chaos Emerald was still floating. He couldn't see it through the cloth… but…

It didn't matter. He didn't need to see it to _use_ it…

As the robots finished their approach, leaving the room coated in looming silence, those desperate words finally broke free of his lips; broke free of the willpower everyone had thought indomitable.

"Please… _please, please don't!_"

He screamed the plea… horrified… without restraint. It shook the foundation of the entire colossal prison as it echoed over the intercom. If possible, everything became even more silent.

Almost everything. The loudest noise on the floor was Sonic's labored breathing.

Doctor Eggman remained coldly, frighteningly unresponsive as the android readied its spraying hand. Five seconds passed like five hours to Sonic as he again tried to rip his limbs from the magnetic force and the cuffs, making them cut into his wrists… cold metal causing white-hot pain… but Sonic cared about none of it… Eggman would have responded by now if he was going to…

Another chill shot through his spine like cold lightning as he realized the doctor was disregarding him completely, despite that he had just cried out for mercy.

Dear Chaos, no. No, no, no…

"Eggmaaaaan!" Sonic had no concept of his own voice even as he cried out, no idea of its volume or pitch, no sense of anything aside from the raw need to escape taking him over. "_You've gotta listen! IT DOESN'T WORK, I SWEAR IT DOESN'T WORK!_"

xxx

Kai shot up to the bars, about to push himself through them, refusing to sit in silence. Lucas grasped one of his paws just in time to keep him out of Eggman's view. "No!" His whisper was heated with angry fear. "Eggman can't know you're on our side! He'll hurt both of us – all of us!" The chao fixed him with a juxtaposition of furiousness and confusion. "Eggman'll probably stop now anyway…" his voice hitched in his throat for a second. "Trust me, little guy… just… Sonic wouldn't want you to risk it, I promise…"

That seemed to strike a chord with Kai, though he still looked reluctant. Tears formed in his big black eyes. The two held each other tight, Lucas holding the sides of Kai's head, where he knew the ears were, so the young chao wouldn't have to hear anything else. He slowly sat himself down, trying his best to keep both of them calm. His entire body was shaking.

"Don't be shy, now," Eggman said. Lucas's stomach jumped. Was he addressing them? Had they been heard? "Let that water flow. People don't get enough water here lately, since you androids have been so lazy about your jobs, so I'm sure dearest Sonic is thirsty…"

The silence was broken then by the horrid sounds of drowning.

xxx

Sonic's body was overwhelmed by the abuse. He was beginning to cease his struggling, though he knew he didn't want to. His head felt like it was about to split down the middle from the piercing pressure of the water…

Everything… was saturated…

_Eggman – please stop… What else are you expecting from me? Please –_

It would have been an overwhelming thought… that he was caught in the middle of a nightmare worse than any experience he had ever bothered to imagine. But he was barely aware enough to think it.

Somewhere in the desperate haze of his mind, he saw himself surrounded by a transparent capsule in a room on Space Colony ARK, Tails and Amy crying, Eggman looking grimly satisfied as his finger hovered over a button. The mental picture seemed to phase in and out, as if he was unable to hold it in place in his mind. When he found it again, he was being shot into space, into an empty void that was intended to be the resting place of his ashes.

It had been the only time in his life he had truly believed he was going to die. Despite how many times he had teased death, it had been the only time where he'd had no choice but to accept that the true end had come. He had stared death in the face. As he felt himself beginning to lose consciousness, he vaguely recognized that dreadful feeling once again.

Back then, he had used Tails's fake Chaos Emerald to cause Chaos Control. He remembered closing his eyes, feeling heat surround him and not being sure if it was because the capsule was about to explode or if the Chaos Emerald was reacting to his command. He had felt himself twist out of existence as if suctioned into a tight void. He had wondered if it was what death felt like… if, perhaps, the capsule had exploded and he had simply not felt any pain because it happened too quickly for pain to even register.

Then there had been something solid beneath his hands and feet… the cool metal of the space colony… and he had realized he was alive.

He needed something solid now… a foothold… something to let him know it wasn't over. He didn't want to die. There was so much left to do. _I don't want to die._ Over and over he heard the words in his mind, just as he had in the capsule while waiting to be torn apart by the explosion… He could barely hang onto it, but it was all he had now.

The next thing he was fully conscious of was that he was on the floor, retching violently. His body heaved and he felt like he couldn't get the swallowed fluid out of his stomach quick enough. It came out in irregular bursts, leaving a messy splatter on the ground before him. His throat and nostrils burned as water and stomach acid was forced out of them. After an eternity, his vomiting reduced to hoarse coughing. Then he collapsed completely, landing in the lake he had expelled.

It was only when he opened his eyes that he realized he was alone again, and became fully aware that it was over. Though it was obvious he was not pinned to the metal table and that the cloth no longer covered his face, he was just now processing the information. It had been irrelevant before. All that mattered was getting rid of the water.

It was over… right? It was over…

He was shaking uncontrollably, in part because of physical stress, in part because he was cold, and in part because of the emotional residue left behind by utter terror. His breaths were ragged gasps. His wrists and ankles felt numb from the pinch of the magnets even as blood rushed back through the affected areas.

Several tense, quiet minutes passed. Once it seemed appropriate, at least to some small degree, Lucas peeked into the hedgehog's cell from his own. His eyes were more timid and insecure than they had ever been for his duration in the prison.

Kai was on the young male's shoulder, resting a paw gently on his ear for balance. Though their approach to the window was inconspicuous and cautious, Sonic still noticed them. He wondered vaguely how the two had made temporary amends, and how long the chao had been there. He hadn't noticed in the midst of…

"Sonic." Lucas said quietly, looking at the world-renowned hero with stark disbelief. For a second he seemed to choke on his words. Then they came tumbling out just as sporadically the water had been regurgitated from Sonic's stomach. "Damn it, Sonic. I am… so sorry. We shouldn't have… we shouldn't have caused all the chaos we did! I'll keep my mouth shut from now on. I'm… I'm so, so sorry. It wasn't worth it. Chaos, it wasn't worth it…"

Sonic didn't look at either of them. They had been present for everything that had just happened, had witnessed it all, had heard him scream. He didn't want to meet their eyes. "It's… it's… worth it to f-fight back…" he finally pushed out, but the words were hollow, missing the passion they should have been infused with. He said them only for Lucas's benefit.

He wanted this day eliminated from his life.

Feeling sick inside, he dragged himself away from his vomit and sat up against the wall.

"I was responsible for riling people up that day too," Lucas said. "I wish it had been me."

Sonic thought to himself that they were all responsible – everyone who had so much as cheered his name was responsible – and the statement Eggman had been trying to make would not have packed as much emphasis if anyone but him had taken that punishment. Plus, he was the only person he knew of in the prison that actually knew _how _to access the Chaos Emeralds as of yet, and so Eggman's test would have been pointless if not done on him. He didn't have the energy to spell out his thoughts, so he reduced his response to a quiet, severe, "No you don't."

"Is there anything I can do?"

Lucas watched Sonic raise his head to look at him. It looked like it took way more effort than it should have, but he still completed the motion, emerald eyes full of emotions Lucas had never seen on the hedgehog's face before. His heart broke for the blue blur. "Anything…?" Lucas repeated in a tortured whisper.

Sonic's greatest desire in that moment was to be left alone, but he didn't want to offend Lucas by saying so. They were all fragile. "N-not right now," he muttered instead. "I'll be okay…"

The subtle choice of vocabulary did not go unnoticed. "Are you okay?" Lucas asked, reframing the words so that the question was clearly in the present-tense. Sonic grimaced and directed his anguished stare at the floor. It was a terrible time for this discussion. He wished his friend would exercise a little more tact, even if he was only referring to his physical condition. He was not okay, but he couldn't just say that out loud. Feeling Lucas's eyes on him, he shrugged one shoulder and slumped down a little in his position. Lucas took the hint and finally retreated out of visibility.

Sonic raised his hands to his head, massaging his temples. Through the spaces in between his fingers, he could see the moisture on the floor from the water he had choked up, and slightly further away, the bars keeping him in his cell, immovable and indestructible as always. Oppressive as always.

It wasn't only his body that was trapped.

His breathing hitched and convulsed again, but it was no longer because of gagging or coughing. He put his elbows on his slightly raised knees and watched the floor between his legs become blurry in his watering vision.

Kai squeezed his small body through the bars between the two cells, slowly fluttering down to Sonic's level. Carefully and gently, he set himself down on the hedgehog's leg to lean against his heaving chest.

"H-hey little guy," Sonic said in a broken voice, accepting the chao's comfort. Kai snuggled into him, meeting his eyes with a mix of sorrow and some kind of hope, like he wanted Sonic to smile and wink and say 'just kidding.' He didn't.

Kai looked down and touched one of Sonic's wrists, where the magnets were, and the mysterious orb above his head morphed into a question mark.

Sonic sniffed and attempted to steady the shakiness in his words. "Yeah, little guy," he managed softly. "That's what I was thinking, too." If it hadn't been for the magnets, he would have been able to evade everything that had happened. He needed to get them out… but not now. Kai seemed to perceive Sonic's thoughts and made himself comfortable against him.

"Mm…?" he murmured.

"It'll be okay," Sonic strained weakly. "I just… I need t-to sleep… or something." As he held the dark chao close, he felt like he was only pulling words out of the air. They didn't want to know how he really felt… _He_ didn't want to know how he really felt.

It was a quiet, quiet night on the top floor. There was no rumble of conversation, no laughter, no passion. The people were struck silent as if paralyzed.

And Sonic had nothing to tell them.

xxx

"_My stories only end when I stop running." –Sonic, Black Knight_

xxx

_IN CHAPTER 13: Everything and everyone forgotten, Sonic curled up and threw himself spikes-first into the front of the cell over and over. Like a wild animal trapped in a cage. He needed – not wanted, needed – to be free, needed to tread over ground he didn't have, needed to feel himself pushing earth behind him with the wind tearing against his face… needed to satisfy something raw and internal, part of his nature, part of his very core._

...Until next time. Hang in there. ;)


	14. Chapter 13: Face This Day

You guys. Are. Amazing.

I was all set to start this author's note with some kind of dumbass sarcasm or something. Couldn't do it. Just… thanks so much. Yeah, I was nervous about that last chapter. I tend to get pretty attached to stories. So I really do appreciate it. I would never have dared to expect that kind of immense support and praise. And the ONLY thing I regret is that I can't begin to express how much it means to me.

(End sentimental moment, you can stop throwing up now.)

By the way, my comments in the last chapter's author notes were mostly inside jokes. There's no list or contest or anything. XD

The Meddler: Thanks so much. :D Oh, and ironic you should say that! I was a big fan of hers. Though as far as characterization… Well, I suppose that's open to interpretation, but I'd say there are similarities and differences. This might make more sense later. ;) But again, thanks!

So yeah, shit just got real. XD Let's do this. Enjoy!

… :)

CHAPTER 13: FACE THIS DAY

Somewhere between consciousness and sleep, Lucas heard movement.

He sat up, rubbed his eyes to adapt to the darkness, and saw two androids hauling Amber back towards her cell. He sought her eyes, but she wasn't paying any attention to him. She was staring into the cell next to him as she passed it – at Sonic – who was in a motionless heap on the floor with Kai using his arm as a blanket. Her mouth opened in a voiceless scream at the sight of him, and she began pulling against the robots. For a moment, Lucas actually thought she would wrestle out of their grasp. Then they shoved her to the ground, making sure she was in her cell entirely before slamming the door hard.

She was already back on her feet. "I-Is he-?" she stammered frantically, looking across the hall at Sonic.

"He's alive, and finally _sleeping!_" Lucas said in a loud whisper. The girl covered her mouth, looking embarrassed. "Did you think he was…?"

"I, I… I didn't know what to think!" she said into her hands.

Lucas laughed bitterly. "It was never meant to _kill _him, Amber. Didn't you hear everything?"

"What? No. They brought me to the room where the scanner used to be, and there was no intercom in there."

Lucas blinked. "There… there wasn't? I thought there were intercoms everywhere in this place."

The girl was staring at him with a crestfallen expression, tears sliding down her cheeks as she openly wept. She inhaled a sharp breath and tried several times to shape it into words before succeeding in a shaky voice: "Th-there's no intercom in there, because… because Sonic wrecked it along with everything else in that room. Wh-when h-he destroyed the scanner."

Lucas looked at her blankly, his face pale. It seemed like an eternity ago that Sonic had destroyed the scanner. He remembered when Sonic had come back from that room, looking overjoyed and more triumphant than ever, smirking up at the androids that had him in tow. Had it really only been a few days? "God," he breathed after a moment, putting his head in his hands and rubbing his temples. "What the hell just happened."

Amber's face crumpled and they both knew they had shared the same bittersweet memory. After a moment she gathered herself enough to say, "I thought Eggman was gonna kill him."

"We should quiet down," Lucas said numbly, staring off at nothing. "Doubt he wants to be woken up right now."

"I… I'm so sorry," Amber said brokenly.

"What for?" Lucas asked. "You didn't do anything."

"I know," she said, tears beginning to cascade down her face again. "That's the problem. I didn't do anything. I never do anything. I'm so sorry… to both of you."

"Save it," the man said. "Now's not the time. We have to—"

"Now _is _the time! I should have said that a long time ago."

Lucas met her eyes, knowing she was begging to be pardoned. "It's okay," he finally said, meeting that desperate need in the only way he knew how. "We all make mistakes. Maybe you didn't do much, but sometimes I did _too _much, too many of the wrong things."

"Lucas, d-did Sonic… did he…"

The man closed his eyes. "He tried to use the Chaos Emerald. Screamed out to Eggman. Swore over and over that it didn't work. Or if it did, one Emerald just wasn't strong enough for him to get away." His breath caught in his throat and he stopped momentarily before continuing in a broken, hoarse voice: "Please don't ask for more details."

"No…" she breathed, tears still flowing endlessly down her face. "No! So not only was he screwed, but now we could all be screwed too?"

"Shh, shh!" Lucas hissed, then looked over at Sonic, who still appeared to be sleeping. "Amber – you can't have him shoulder that. He… he tried so hard, Amber. And he's done more for everyone here than anyone else has."

"I know that!" she sobbed. "But that's not the point! It doesn't change anything. What if Eggman's restraints _were_ too strong to be broken by a Chaos Emerald? It only appears to _us _that the Emeralds can't be used that way. But what if only _Eggman _knows if Sonic tapping into it had an effect? For all we know he could be up in his control room right now, thinking up ways to get everyone else to tap into the Chaos Emeralds too, thinking up ways to take advantage of that connection and control people, and…"

"I don't know," Lucas said, cutting her off. "There's a million things we probably still don't know, so let's not jump to conclusions right now, okay? But Amber… can I ask you something?"

She nodded, not trusting her voice.

"Why don't you ever talk to him?" He gestured with his head to Sonic.

"I… I don't think I could now. It'd be embarrassing. He's done so much, and I've done so little. I wouldn't be able to look into his eyes." Amber sniffed. "I don't feel like I even deserve to have any connection to either of you."

"You have… some serious confidence problems."

"Thanks, that helps."

Lucas glared hard at the floor. "And I have some serious tact problems."

xxx

When he awoke, Sonic couldn't tell at first if he had actually slept. It felt as though he had been straddling the line between snoozing and actually sleeping… and it was a very tense, uncomfortable line at that. He moaned quietly in his throat, irritated at his discomfort, and turned over to his other side, snuggling deeper into his sleeping bag. The cell lights were still off, which meant the sun had likely not even risen yet. Whether he had been out for five minutes or five hours, he didn't know. He hoped he could go back to sleep.

Despite his best efforts, his mind continued to awaken as he laid there. Even though he felt as exhausted as he had before sleeping – had something significant happened to lead to that exhaustion? – it seemed he was being denied his desire for adequate rest. And for some reason, his throat burned something else, and the inside of his nose tingled with the itch to sneeze… After a few minutes of hovering between sleep in consciousness, he grew hot and opened his eyes again.

Impatiently, he pushed aside the daze of fatigue and sat up, for the first time trying to attribute his unease to a cause. That was all it took.

He remembered everything.

It seemed surreal for a moment, like it had happened to someone else perhaps, but not him. Then his eyes adapted to his environment and he took in the heavy metal gate, the rods barring off the space above it, the surrounding walls, the panel on the back wall…

The memory didn't set in so much as drop in his gut like a brick. Heavy, uncomfortable, and awful. Nothing brought back a memory like environment. Surroundings. For a moment, his hands and feet were pinned to that panel again, and the cloth was tied behind his head again, becoming airtight as water soaked it through…

Raw emotion took him over, and he slapped his hands against the floor, somehow hoping the movement and the sound and the pain would jolt him out of this nightmare and back into normal life, where there no walls surrounding him. It was all he could do to hold his breath and prevent himself from screaming. He hated Eggman with every fiber of his being.

Had trapping him in a ten-by-ten cell not been bad enough! Restraining enough? Oppressing enough?

He heard Lucas pacing in the neighboring cell, indicating that he was awake, but paid it no mind. Everything and everyone forgotten, Sonic curled up and threw himself spikes-first into the front of the cell over and over. Like a wild animal trapped in a cage. He needed – not wanted, _needed _– to be free, needed to tread over ground he _didn't have_, needed to feel himself pushing earth behind him with the wind tearing against his face… needed to satisfy something raw and internal, part of his nature, part of his very core.

The top floor of Meka Tower seemed to wince with every strike. In the neighboring cell, Lucas had fistfuls of his own dark hair in a white-knuckle grip as Sonic's passionate escape attempts vibrated through his bones. It went on for seconds, then minutes… and beyond that, he was unable to hold any mental recollection of time. There were moments where he was sure that door would break open, that there was no _way _such powerful attacks could be ineffective. But every time that harsh, metallic thud rang out again, it was clear Sonic was fighting a losing battle. And if _Lucas_ could feel those impacts radiating… Sonic had to be feeling it a hundred times more.

Suddenly Lucas realized what this was really all about. Sonic wasn't reacting to what Eggman had done to him as much as he was reacting to the sense of tight oppression that had become all the more real _because _of it… the restriction, the tenseness, the complete lack of freedom… He had known from the start Sonic wasn't okay with being trapped, had known from the start that it was as _far _from his element as possible… but at the time, Sonic had locked it away because there were more important things to worry about than himself…

Sleep was rendered impossible to everyone as the pounding continued to ring throughout the prison. It was painfully loud, not only in its sound but in its significance. Lucas looked across the hall at Amber, feeling her eyes on him. For the first time, the pain in her eyes was _all there, _revealed without restraint. Even in the dim light he could see tear tracks on her fair-skinned face. There was so much agony there… so much that she had been able to hold at bay, because of Sonic, Lucas knew. Even in her relative silence, she had held onto some small amount of strength, some kind of faith… now he couldn't find it in her face anymore.

"S-Sonic…" she addressed him for the first time, voice wrecked with wracking sobs. "Don't do this to me now… I believed in you… you wanted our faith and _I believed in you!_"

Mind, body, and instinct focused on breaking free, Sonic didn't hear her.

Lucas felt his throat tighten at the tragic sound of the girl's anguished wails and the convoluted rhythm of Sonic's ramming attacks. He found himself wanting to comfort her. It was so ironic, because once upon a time, he wouldn't have cared less. Sonic had been the one always trying to do the comforting, and Lucas had rolled his eyes at the hedgehog's infinite optimism and understanding. Now he wanted little more than to be the comfort to her that Sonic had tried to be all along.

But he didn't even know what to say to her.

_Bang. Bang. Bang._

There was anxious chatter all around; people who were just as confused and irritated as he was. Their voices seemed way louder in his head than they should have. He couldn't tune them out. He couldn't tune Sonic out. It was too much chaotic noise… too many wracking vibrations… too many incomprehensible, anonymous words floating around in the thick atmosphere… and that damned violet light, too dim to be of any use but too bright to conveniently disregard… it set his teeth on edge…

Finally, enough was enough. Lucas stormed over to the hedgehog's window and shouted: "Sonic! _Stop!_"

Shockingly, mercifully, everything fell silent. The anxious chattering went out as quick as a candle in a waterfall. In between attacks, Sonic pulled out of his trance to look at him. His eyes were heated with angry, reckless abandon.

Lucas's own emotions took over and he grasped the bars hard, since he couldn't grasp Sonic's shoulders and shake him like he wanted to. "_Just fucking stop!_" he screamed, glaring into those emerald eyes, both of them seeing expressions on the other's face that they had never expected to see. "I want to get some sleep! We all want to _get some sleep_!"

As soon as Lucas said it, he regretted it. It was like he snapped back into himself, and the consequential guilt was instantaneous. After what Eggman had put Sonic through, and after walking circles into the floor for half the night anyway, sleep was suddenly a priority? What was _wrong _with him? Was he that selfish?

He didn't know what to expect of the blue blur. Would he lose it? Scream back at him? Ignore him and keep throwing himself relentlessly into the gate? Apologize?

Sonic did none of those, but slid down against the wall in a corner, reached up, and grasped sloppy quills in both hands in much the same way Lucas had with his hair earlier, looking like he had an infinite amount of that wild, desperate energy still left inside him. He exhaled a long, hard, trying breath and closed his eyes.

"I didn't mean that," Lucas whispered hoarsely.

Sonic nodded, eyes still closed, body shaking with violent tremors. "I know."

"I'm still here… everyone's still here, and they're worried about you… you're not alone in this place, Sonic. Just remember that there's… that there's still that huge world out there, and it hasn't stopped existing just because you're in here… and one day, you won't be in here anymore."

Something in Sonic's crumpled face reacted to the words, as if maybe he was thinking of said world, and Lucas's heart jumped a little at the notion that he just might have said the right thing to someone for once.

"Eggman's nothing," Lucas continued on with fraught hope. "You hear me, Sonic? _Nothing._ Same guy you've been fighting your whole life. This is… this is just another day… right? Like you've always seen it…"

Sonic was silent. But his mind still wanted to scream.

"It'll be okay in the end, Sonic. It might take a lot to get there… but it'll be okay in the end."

Lucas was certain he would never forget the desperate look in Sonic's eyes as he looked up at him and asked very quietly, "Will it?"

"Oh Sonic…" the man nearly whispered, looking away as he felt suddenly unable to bear that pained expression. "Don't let him get the best of you like this."

When the tight ache in Lucas's throat went away and he looked back through the bars, Sonic was still sitting in the corner, hands laced around his knees. Sensing his gaze, he looked up again. They held eye contact for a moment, and as Lucas gazed into those miserable emerald windows, he wondered if he had been unfairly expecting too much of the blue blur, wondered if maybe he wasn't the unbreakable soul he had always seen him to be. Was it such a hard concept to grasp that maybe, just maybe, he was a normal person like everyone else despite his heroics?

"I'm going to try going back to sleep now," Lucas said, sensing that he had served his worth for the moment and should let his friend be. He offered Sonic the slightest consoling smile, then retreated and went back to bed.

Sonic stared at the spot where he had been for several minutes, trying to think of something to say even though the time-window of response had long passed.

What seemed like an eternity later, he fell back to sleep, half laying and half sitting in the corner of the room, blanket hanging messily over part of his lean form. It was far from a deep slumber… it was barely below the surface of consciousness. Every noise seemed to penetrate into that surface, disturbing the stability and rejuvenation that rest was supposed to provide. He woke up several more times throughout the night, each time feeling just as poorly rested… and just as disturbed.

When morning finally came, he was freezing, because at some point prior he had kicked his cover away. It had been smothering his face.

xxx

Upon waking, Lucas clumsily shoved his covers aside and pushed himself to his feet with the aim of checking on Sonic. He got as far as two steps when the abrasive brightness of the daytime lights took their toll on his sleep-adapted eyes, and he had to stop and massage some functionality back into them.

Just yesterday morning at this time, he had been having a conversation with Sonic about… never giving up. Mere hours before it had happened. As though the gods were playing some kind of disgusting joke.

_You've gotta listen! It doesn't work, I swear it doesn't work!_

"God," Lucas choked out quietly, feeling sick again. It wasn't yesterday morning anymore. Today was today. And things had changed. Now… now it was all he could do to hope his dear friend would recover, on all fronts.

After reacquainting himself with the light – not to mention the circumstances – he approached the window and peered between the bars hesitantly, trying to remain inconspicuous.

It was a sight somewhat better than he had braced himself for.

Sonic was propped up against the wall, legs crossed at the ankles, arms folded across his chest, gazing off at whatever. It was immediately evident to Lucas that he had cleaned himself at some point; his fur looked neat and smooth even as it shone under the critically bright cell light. The hedgehog usually _did _look reasonably well-kept, but it granted a kind of dignity to his appearance now, because he had looked like such a mess the previous night. His skin had been sweaty and his fur soggy and unkempt from the incident. Now there was no evidence of it on his body.

It was also obvious that the blue blur had been awake for a long time. His fur looked to be thoroughly dry, indicating that he had washed off quite a time ago. He had been up in the very early hours of the morning.

Kai was snoring quietly, face leaned against the inside of Sonic's hand while he idly stroked the chao's back with his thumb.

For a few still, oddly serene minutes – like the calm after a storm – Lucas just watched Sonic's chest rise and fall evenly with his breathing. Such motions, such signs of life and health, were so significant now.

"Hey," Sonic said unexpectedly, softly, not looking up at the man but letting him know he was aware of his presence. Lucas smiled a little.

"Hey."

"Wonder what it's like outside today," the hedgehog thought aloud, his gaze flickering to Lucas for the briefest of moments.

"I wish I could tell you," Lucas said, meaning it more than anything. "You… cleaned up earlier? Did it go all right?"

Sonic's eyes drifted over to the opposite wall, while one subconscious hand drifted across to his other side to smooth down fur there. "It's just a faucet," he said quietly, evading the prospect of providing Lucas with an actual answer.

Well, the man figured, maybe it was best not to press him too long on the same subject.

"Sonic… you still look exhausted. Rough night for you?"

"Had better," Sonic replied with an impassive shrug. "How about you?"

Lucas gave a stressed sigh, the breath a tense whisper through the air as it left his lungs. "Had better. Could say that about most of my nights here, though."

"Yeah."

It was an awkward, somewhat forced conversation. The inevitable question came, but only after an equally awkward bout of silence.

"So, uh, how's it going?"

Sonic made a face, wishing he was still asleep. At least in that state, he had brief, temporary respites from this twisted world his life had suddenly become. And at least he wasn't _tired _when he was asleep. "We need to get out of here," he said, and then, under his breath: "I need to get out of here."

Neither of them said anything else for a moment, because there was nothing anyone could add to that statement that hadn't been said already. When the silence went on to the point of unease, Sonic glanced up at his friend, as if to say it was his turn to talk.

"Er, sorry…" Lucas muttered ineptly. "I guess I don't know what else to say. Just feel like I should say something. I mean… you're my friend, and I, you know, I care about you and all. So… so yeah."

Sonic made himself smile a little. Somehow, Lucas's lack of talent at 'being soft' made his attempt at doing so anyway more meaningful. Nodding his thanks, he pulled his sleeping bag back towards him, contemplating giving sleep another shot simply because it sounded better than being awake. Lucas watched him with somewhat timid concern for a moment, then stepped away from the window.

Days went by.

xxx

"Hey, Sonic. You know, that girl in the cell across from you looks like she's having a really hard time. I think she's sleeping right now, but maybe later you could try talking to her…? I've only had a few conversations with her before, and that was when… Well, anyway, I don't think she's all that fond of me. I'm not exactly a pro at _reaching_ people."

"What am I supposed to say?" Sonic asked. "'Everything's going to be okay, we'll get out?' Just because I haven't said it directly _to _her doesn't mean she hasn't heard me say it over and over for the last however-many months. How long has she been here, anyway?"

"She's been here the whole time you have," Lucas said. "A day before you showed up, actually. She just doesn't show herself much. That's why I think she needs some help. I thought she'd adapt to everything, you know? But it's been a long time now."

"Mm-hmm," Sonic mumbled. "I mean, you're right, we should try to help or whatever. Just don't know how, really."

Lucas sighed, trying to keep the disappointment from showing in his expression."Well… um… what were you going to say to her the other day, you know, before the magnets activated and all that?"

The hedgehog scratched his head. "Beats me. Let's just see what she says or does next time we have a chance to get the floor all worked up again. Maybe she'll change her mind and join in."

Lucas could have mentioned that she had not reacted before, and that there was really no reason to believe she would change of her own accord at this point. He could have mentioned her agonized cries from a few nights ago that Sonic hadn't heard because he was too absorbed in his own agony. He didn't, though, because his attention had been snagged by one thing.

_Next time… 'next time?'_

Even as the two held eye contact, Sonic's expression was strained and fatigued, still holding remnants of the dread recent experiences had left behind, and the overwhelming sense of oppression he could no longer hide. But in spite of everything – whether intentional or not – he had implied of a 'next time.'

After what their last big move had cost… next time?

"Why are you _looking_ at me like that?" the hedgehog asked with sudden impatience, crossing his arms.

"Ah, nothin'," Lucas muttered, crossing his arms too, but there was the slightest smirk on his face. "Sorry."

Sonic shrugged and sat down on his sleeping bag. Lucas didn't know if he should keep talking or leave him alone, but figured if the hedgehog wanted him to go away, he would say so. He seemed at least a _little _keener on talking today, if not somewhat irritable. "Sonic," the man said gently, thinking of something he had wanted to say anyway, but before now had been too uncomfortable to bring up, "it's okay that you tried to use the Chaos Emerald, you know. Most people would."

The blue blur grumbled lividly under his breath. "Yeah, well, Eggman isn't going to be _stopped_ by 'most people.'"

"That's true," Lucas said quickly before the hedgehog could say anything else, immediately wanting to withdraw his consolation after seeing the not-so-consoling affect it had triggered. He would have loved the fire in Sonic's eyes if he didn't hate the tragic reason for it. "But… but at least, since it didn't work, we're more sure that the Emeralds can't just be taken advantage of like Eggman wants. That's a relief, isn't it, Sonic? No harm done. Most likely, anyway. And Eggman's gotta be super-pissed, so that's always good, right?"

He shut himself up, realizing every word he said was drawing nearer and nearer to what was likely very uncomfortable territory for Sonic. He wondered if he was trying too hard too soon to venture into the hedgehog's mind. Until then, he'd never had to _try, _because Sonic had never bothered to hide anything before. At least… not that he'd _known _about before. Although he had no desire to make his friend uncomfortable, he realized he couldn't stand not knowing what was behind those emerald eyes. Whatever words he could elicit from Sonic would help him figure that out.

After a minute he realized Sonic had not yet responded. The question about Eggman being upset had been kind of rhetorical anyway, but still, he had expected _something_. Pulling himself out of scattered, insecure thoughts, he looked back over at the blue blur.

His whole face was impatient and tired and uneasy, but somewhere in the midst of it all was the shadow of a grin.

xxx

_"Out of the frying pan and into the fire, huh?" –Sonic, Secret Rings_

xxx

_IN CHAPTER 14: Espio makes an uncharacteristic – and dangerous – error in judgment. Amy resolves to free Sonic even if she has to do it herself. Tails accidentally stumbles across a connection with Eggman via com-link…_

Was dying to update this. Thanks for reading, and please comment! Chapter title is a song reference, by the way; didja catch it? Oh, kind of out of nowhere, but for those of you who are interested, _When Enough Isn't Enough _has had a second chapter added. Yeah, after two years. XD

Anyway, happy reading and writing and all that. See ya next time!_  
><em>


	15. Chapter 14: Floodgates

Cherucha: Thanks! :) And you'll slowly but surely find out about that.

The Meddler: Heh, I try; I like getting in characters' heads. :) Thanks.

Hey folks! Man, I've gotta say, I am beyond excited for Sonic Generations. Wish I could elaborate more, but I don't wanna give anything away for those who are steering clear of spoilers. I haven't let myself see anything major, but still enough that it'd probably irk a few people if I mentioned it, so… I'll just leave it at "excited :D."

Also pretty excited about this chapter. Lotsa stuff going on. Will hopefully leave you with both answers and questions.

Also, as far as this story, I know things are kinda... down lately. Depressing and whatnot (parts of this chapter probably included). But just know I know exactly where I'm going with all this, and despite everything it is still in fact an adventure story. :) The best is yet to come.

Have fun!

CHAPTER 14: FLOODGATES

Tails's ears were ringing from the loudness of the Tornado's engine as he parked it and climbed out, preventing him from immediately hearing the muffled sounds coming from inside his workshop.

On a whim, he had gone off seeking Chaos Emeralds, not knowing what else to do to further their cause and not wanting to sit around his home pointlessly. He had found nothing. He had flown the Tornado around in an outward spiral since the early morning, covering more space than he ever had during a single search before, determined to return successful – and had found nothing. The radar hadn't given him the slightest reason to believe there were any more of the gems within a fifty-mile radius.

Except, of course, the one in Meka Tower. He found it curious that the doctor only had one. Were there others that he was hiding elsewhere? Is that why the radar wasn't getting any signals…?

The fox sighed. It hadn't been the first unsuccessful search he'd had, but after finding out more about Knuckles and helping Espio make it inside the prison, he had believed they were finally getting somewhere. Now it was a dead end again. What else could he do but wait for Espio to inform him? He wanted so badly to contact him right now, but remembered what the chameleon had requested. Still, it had been a few days now… Wasn't it fair to ask if everything was all right?

He swung open the door and was welcomed to his workshop by the sound of Amy's horrific scream.

xxx

First person perspective

xxx

Lucas was donning a rather peculiar expression. It popped up on his face every now and then since he and Sonic had last talked. I wasn't sure why, and if the puzzled glances he kept giving me were anything to go by, he really wasn't either. But… just the way Sonic had acted the other day…

It was… well, peculiar.

This time, when Lucas glanced over, I raised my eyebrows, asking the question I knew he was considering: Are you going to say something?

That seemed to be the slight push he needed, because he nodded once and then drew in a preparatory breath. His voice came out a little tight, like he was nervous or maybe even excited about something. I had no idea why; I wasn't following that far.

"Heya Sonic. Was kinda curious about something, if you don't mind…?"

Unsurprisingly, Sonic looked up at him. "Okay, try me."

"I… well… hm," Lucas said inadequately. "I guess… I'm not sure really how to approach it."

"Facing forward would probably be good. I mean, you can see better and stuff."

Lucas looked like he couldn't decide if he was supposed to laugh or not. I stifled a chuckle, not because Sonic's comment had been utterly hilarious or anything, but because the humor caught me off-guard all things considering.

"R-right. Uh, Sonic… are you… keeping something quiet?"

I could tell Sonic knew immediately what situation Lucas was referring to. Pretty much anything that came out of Lucas's mouth lately had to do with _that_, so unless he specified otherwise, it was just assumed.

"What's left to keep quiet, pal?" the hedgehog replied reluctantly, not holding Lucas's gaze. "You know what happened."

Defeat was such foreign expression on Sonic's face.

I saw the hopefulness in Lucas's own expression collapse. He'd had a lot of faith in that hedgehog. I mean, it wasn't that Sonic didn't deserve it, but…

"I'm sorry. I knew I shouldn't have brought it up. I just… I mean, with the Chaos Emerald… I just thought that maybe…" He sighed, looking ashamed of himself. I didn't blame him. "I'm so sorry, Sonic."

"Y-yeah," he said awkwardly. "It's… it's cool. I guess I'm the one who should be sorry."

"No. Don't even think like that." Lucas's face contorted into an agonized apology. "It's not your fault."

Something caught my eye and I glanced away from them. Kai had flown by again. He had been drifting back and forth through our hallway for several minutes now, the light casting a violet glow on his dark green form. It was like he was indecisive about something. Sometimes, in passing, he glanced at me or Lucas. But he glanced at Sonic _every _time.

Now he stopped momentarily to watch the pair, having heard their words.

"So, ah, Sonic. Maybe we could try to strike up some conversation with prisoners down the hall, you know? Just see if other folks are doing all right… Speaking of which, are you doing all right?"

"Yeah," Sonic said after a moment, following along with the excuse conversation. "I guess I'm doing all right. Tryin', you know?"

"That's good to hear, then," the man replied. "Good to hear."

The conversation died quickly. Silence kept us all company. The air felt warm and stale.

Kai recommenced his air-pacing, not knowing what to do with himself. He looked more uncertain now than he had before. The angled spike on each side of his head hung a little lower than usual. After a few minutes of this, Sonic yawned and got his attention. "Kai?" he said as the chao retraced his linear path once again. "What're you after, here? I don't bite, you know."

Kai tentatively came into Sonic's cell and stopped past the bars, just hovering there, watching him.

"He probably just wants to stay away from Eggman," Lucas offered. "I know I would."

The chao dropped down into the corner opposite Sonic, looking content that the hedgehog didn't mind his presence, but cautious at the same time. There were a million questions in his eyes, and I wondered what he would be saying if he could talk.

He stayed in that corner for the few remaining hours of the day, until Sonic crawled into his sleeping bag later that evening. Only then did he get to his little green feet and walk timidly over to the hedgehog, halting a foot away from him, hands behind his back. Sonic held the chao in his gaze wordlessly, not appearing to have anything to say.

Kai tilted his head and smiled; a question seeking a response.

Sonic's answering smile was slight and tired, but it was there. Suddenly looking vastly more comfortable in their companionship, Kai dug his way into the sleeping bag and got cozy against Sonic's chest. The hedgehog laid a protective hand over him, temperament brightening a little more. "You're just a little sweetie, aren'tcha," he cooed quietly. In response, the chao snuggled into him more, holding his closest finger with both little hands. I watched them until they fell asleep.

"So," Lucas said sometime later, and I realized he was addressing me. "How's it going, then? You doing okay?"

I stood up and went to the front of my cell, so I could see him better.

"I guess so," I said quietly. "Not really."

"You're lucky you got taken somewhere else the other day, you know."

"What?" I asked before remembering what he meant. "Oh. Yeah. I guess you could say that."

Lucas sighed. "Sorry. This isn't the thing to talk about. It's just… I don't know what else to say, but I can't just not say anything. Sonic's been out of sorts, you're _always _out of sorts, and we can't just all shut ourselves off like this."

"Eggman only took me somewhere else because I've always been 'cooperative,'" I muttered abruptly. "Hardly _lucky _if you ask me. Even _he _noticed how useless I am."

"You say that like you can't change anything," Lucas said.

"I guess I don't even know what I could do right now that wouldn't make things worse. I'm… I'm worried about Sonic, Lucas."

"We're all worried about him," Lucas said. "But, I mean, it is Sonic we're talking about here. Even if things have gotten kind of crazy recently, he's been fighting Eggman for years, right?"

"Funny how that's exactly what he said to you when you guys first met."

"Huh?"

"You thought he was so reckless and naïve for acting the way he was, at the time. Remember how irritated you got?" I wondered why I was talking so much. "And he responded by saying that he's been fighting Eggman for years and he's got this."

Lucas grinned. "If I remember right, after that, I told him 'let's see if you still feel that way in a month.' And he still did. He never stopped trying."

"That doesn't really mean anything now, though." I looked over into Sonic's cell. "He's been so quiet lately."

When Lucas didn't respond, I glanced back up. He was staring at me incredulously.

"What?" I asked.

"A little melodramatic, aren't we?" he remarked. "It's only been a few days since that mess happened, and you're whining because he's _quiet?_ _You,_ of all people, are whining because he's _quiet_? Cut the guy some slack. He just needs a break."

"Tell that to yourself," I snapped. "You're the one who won't leave him alone."

"At least I'm taking some _initiative_, and—"

"Hey, if you guys are going to talk about me, that's great and all, but can you keep it down so I can sleep? Or, y' know, try to?"

Well. That third voice wasn't supposed to be there.

For a second, Lucas and I just stared at each other like deer caught in headlights. Then, quietly, we retreated to our respective beds. It went without saying that it was the end of our conversation.

xxx

"_Amy!_"

Chaos Emeralds forgotten, Tails rushed into the workshop, namesakes already spinning furiously as though the response was automatic. Still, the scene across the living room appeared so far away while he was running toward it that panic overcame him.

She was curled up in a way only a hedgehog could curl up, quills stiffened defensively, in one corner of the room... while an H-series android kicked her repeatedly in the back.

"T-Tails!" Her voice was a scared sob. "The Emeralds—! Oh no, the Emeralds…"

Realizing what she meant, the fox looked around frantically, still running. His sharp eyes scanned over every nook and cranny. There was no sign of their hard-earned two gems. No characteristic glow. No other androids around for him to hold accountable. Any accomplices had already left… and the Emeralds had left with them.

The only victories they had managed to secure until that point were gone like they had never been there at all.

_No…_

"Never mind the Emeralds!" he said, snapping himself out of it. "Get outta there, Amy!"

The robot drew back a foot as the girl tried to speak again, her voice muffled in the small space between her and the wall. "You d-don't understand… _AHH!_"

Tails's blood boiled. "How _dare _you!" he seethed, throwing himself at the android without reservation. "Wanna know what that feels like?"

"Tails…!"

"I'll take care of it!" the fox promised, and caught a glimpse of her as the robot dodged his relentless attack. Her face was tight and sullen with pain, her dress wrinkled and snagged in spots, and there was blood on the floor. It wasn't easy to see. She had been putting up a fight for quite a while…

While he let himself get distracted, the android promptly struck him across the mouth. His bottom hit the ground before he even realized what happened. His vision swam in a sea of colors and dots, and he panicked, unable to tell if he was about to be attacked again. What ultimately happened was worse: he heard a sickening impact, and then Amy moaned in weak desperation.

It was enough to put him back in context. He got up, staving off the faintness still lingering, and sprung at the android again.

The thing heard him and began to turn to face, but couldn't complete the motion before the fox tackled its head and wrapped his legs around its neck. It stepped backward away from Amy, trying to shake him off. He reached around front and blocked off its visual detectors with large, gloved hands. It reached up too, trapping those hands with its own. Stuck in the motions of trying to stop the other, the two opponents thrashed and struggled clumsily. Caught up in the moment, Tails didn't notice that Amy was lying completely motionless beyond them, still crunched up in the corner.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" the fox demanded through teeth gritted in effort as he clung to the android's head. "Tell me what you're doing in my workshop!"

"You know exactly why I'm here, fox boy." The bot's voice came through smoothly as though it wasn't even engaged in a fight. It abandoned one of Tails's wrists to reach up and grasp his ear, trying to cause him enough pain to let go. "You might as well give up now!"

"_Oww! _N-no! You're the one who should be doing that!"

"Ah, weakness and resistance is such a delicious combination in an opponent."

Tears stung the vulpine's eyes, but he held fast. If that android was resorting to hurting him to get him to back off, that meant he was an actual threat. The best opportunities arose in the most challenging situations. And he was in a position to do something about this. He could do something!

He felt the robot pull harder on his tender ear and twist. A choked cry that he couldn't help escaped his throat, and then he twisted too, the robot's head still secured between his body and his hands. The bot's grip slackened as something gave internally. Sounds like firecrackers emitted from somewhere inside its head. Sensing it coming, Tails dove away from the robot and threw himself in front of Amy's still form just in time to shield her from the explosion.

Shards of metal sliced ruthlessly into his back and arms. He groaned, eyes squeezed shut tight as if that would somehow diminish the sharp agony. Then, just as quickly, all was calm again. He collapsed to the floor, tired and bleeding.

"A-Amy… s-say something…" he begged, not wanting to look up and see the worst. "Please…"

"Is it… is it gone?"

"Oh man, Amy…" Relief numbed his pain and he pushed himself up enough to scoot toward her. His injuries were painful but not severe. "Yeah, it's gone. Are you okay? I'm… I'm so sorry! I should have been here, or had you come with me earlier, or…" he trailed off, shaking his head. "And the Chaos Emeralds… How could I have been so irresponsible…"

The pink hedgehog's quills untightened almost gracefully, and she rolled over away from the wall to face him, sitting up in the process.

The two Chaos Emeralds were gathered in her arms.

"A-Amy!" the fox stammered, cerulean eyes going wide in stark disbelief. "You…!"

"That's what I was trying to tell you," the girl said with unshed tears in her eyes, clutching the gems tightly like she was still protecting them. "That's why that robot was still here. It was trying to get these. But it hadn't _already _gotten them. That's what you thought, isn't it?"

"I… yeah! But you didn't let it! Oh man! So that's why you were all curled up! Amy, I thought you were seriously hurt or something! You're… you're _not_, are you?"

"I'm okay," she said modestly. "I can handle it."

Mere minutes ago, Tails had been upset that they still only had two Chaos Emeralds. Now those gems seemed like treasure, and he was unimaginably relieved. "I won't take for granted what you just did, Amy," he said, smiling through the shock that was still on his face. "You didn't have to. That was… that was _really _brave of you, to not hand them over."

"We need these Emeralds." She smiled back at him, the happiness in her teal eyes shattering whatever discomfort had been there before. "I'm _glad _I could protect them. It's what we wanted, right? It's worth it."

"You sound kinda like Sonic!" the fox noted. "But even more like _you_. Way to pull through."

Amy straightened her red dress and winced slightly when the movement tapped a bruise. "Yeah, well, I guess it's an _especially _good thing since it looks like you didn't find any more."

"Yeah…" Tails's ears folded down to the sides slightly. "I wish I had. But we'll just have to keep trying, right?"

"That's right. It's okay, Tails, don't worry about it. We'll find more of them. There's just a lot of ground to cover, that's all."

"Right. And if nothing else, there's still the Master Emerald we need to work on getting. It's just… I'm worried to try and fail. So many bad things could happen if that imposter knew someone was after the Master Emerald. Eggman would know that…"

"Eggman already knows," Amy interrupted. "Or else why would that android end up here? This is as good a time as any to go for it. The worst that can happen is that the imposter tells Eggman we tried to get the Master Emerald. It's not like he wouldn't expect that of us." She met Tails's eyes. "Right?"

"You know what," he said, clenching a fist, "that _is _right. We should do this as soon as we can. But I'm… I'm worried about Espio. He hasn't said anything, and I really want to know if everything's going well in there. Plus he might have some info that can help us somehow, for all we know."

"Are you going to try talking to him now?"

Tails looked down at his communicator. "Yeah," he said. "I think I will. Hopefully that'll be okay, but if not… well, hopefully that'll be okay."

"While you do that, I'm going to go clean up, okay? I'm bleeding and I probably look horrible." She chuckled a little nervously.

"Oh, sure, go right ahead," Tails told her. He'd worry about his own minor injuries later. "I'll probably be a few minutes too."

Amy walked down the hall with a slight limp. Tails watched her until she was out of sight, making sure she was indeed okay, before raising the communicator toward his mouth.

"Espio?" he whispered. "How's it going? You okay?"

"Shhh," the chameleon hissed through the communicator almost immediately. "I asked you to let me start the conversations."

"I know. Sorry. It's just that it's been a while now, and I was starting to worry."

"I apologize for not keeping you informed," he said. "Admittedly I lost track of time. Meka Tower is enormous, so I have not gotten very far anyway. Not to mention, things have been somewhat… distracting."

"I thought you'd want me to help you navigate through there with my radar," Tails said, at first not fully registering the detective's tone. "So I didn't expect you to go silent for so long like that. Maybe every few hours would be better from now on? I was worried. I've always kept _you_ informed about things, Espio…"

"If I can," Espio said curtly. "Don't take this the wrong way, but reassuring you isn't exactly my top priority right now."

"Sorry…" Tails muttered, trying to hide his self-consciousness and vaguely wondering if he had only imagined the uncharacteristic tension in Espio's tone. "Um, so, while we're talking… find anyone we know? Any sign of Sonic yet?"

"Oh, Sonic's here all right."

Tails stared at the communicator, momentarily silent. "…I don't like how you said that. Is he okay?"

"He's alive and in one piece," Espio assured him, but his tone indicated he couldn't decide whether to end the sentence on a comma or a period.

"I don't like how you said that, either," the fox mumbled, becoming disturbed now. "Did you see him?"

"No. I heard him over the intercom."

"Huh? But I thought he…"

"I should… go," Espio interjected tersely. "I'm sorry, Tails. Androids are on patrol right now, and they are headed in my direction. We wouldn't want them to hear me."

"Go away from them, then!" the fox said, mentally scrambling for words to keep his comrade on the line but only coming up with frantic pleas. "Espio, you can't leave right now… what's going on? _Espio!_"

The line went quiet.

xxx

Closing his eyes, Espio turned down the communicator's volume and dropped his hand to his side. He couldn't waste all his time quelling Tails's concerns. Everyone was concerned, and it would stay that way unless someone took action. Later he would require the radar to seek out the prison's control room, like Tails had suggested. But the radar could only detect locations. It could not find Sonic, and above all, that was what he knew he needed to do.

_I'm sorry I wasn't sooner, hedgehog. I hope you're okay._

Treading quietly, Espio made his way further up the spiral path.

xxx

When Amy walked back into Tails's living room, the fox was sitting on the couch motionlessly, wide cerulean eyes staring past the floor.

"Uh oh," she said, hurrying over to sit next to him. "Tails, what's wrong!"

Still, his blank gaze didn't move. If the cuts on his back hurt at all, he wasn't feeling it. "I talked to Espio," he said quietly. "Something happened to Sonic."

Amy gulped, her world narrowing down to Tails's disturbingly empty expression. "Is… is he okay…?"

"I don't know anything." The fox muttered quietly. "Espio didn't want to tell me about it. I think… I think he's worried that if I know what happened, I'll try to come in there and help. He doesn't trust me."

"Oh, Tails!" Amy said, throwing her arms around him. "We have to help! I don't care what the consequences are! Sonic would do the same for us… he would have done the same for us a long time ago!"

"But we can't," the fox said simply. "Even if we wanted to. The only reason Espio was able to get in was because he was invisible and could sneak past those androids. I don't know _what _to do now."

"Contact Espio again!"

"What? No… we could get him caught, Amy."

"I don't care! We're all supposed to be a team, and you and I shouldn't be left in the dark like this! _Give _me that!"

Tails let her undo his wrist strap and take the communicator.

"Espio! This is Amy, and you better respond back!"

At first, there was silence. She drew a breath to yell into the communicator again. Then Espio's voice came through in an irritated whisper. "Don't speak so loudly. Will you two ever let me do what I am in here to do?"

"Not until you tell us what's going on!" Amy said, tone not quieting despite Espio's complaint. "This is important, and you're not being fair. We've been working with you all this time, putting up with your stupid spy games and 'planning' and trying to learn about your client when we _should _have been focusing on the prison from the start! Now you're finally inside, and regardless of how much info we've given you and how much we've tried to help you, you're not going to tell _us_ anything?" She didn't let him answer. "If you don't at _least_ let us know what's going on with Sonic, I swear I will break in there and find out myself!"

Her words rang throughout the house, their angry passion lingering in the air.

"Listen to me," Espio said with forced calmness. "I don't know everything either. I don't want to make any assumptions before I've encountered Sonic myself. Give me time to find him, then you two can talk to him for yourselves."

"That's good enough, Amy," Tails whispered, giving the communicator a tentative tug. She held tight. "Sonic probably just got hurt trying to fight a robot or something."

"_No!_" she snapped, voice piercing the air. "Espio. You said you heard him over the intercom. What did he say?"

There was a tense, dreadful silence. Espio sighed deeply; for how did you convey such a gruesome occurrence to two preteens? Amy mistook his drawn-out breath for irritation, and made a vicious growling sound deep in her throat.

"Espio, you've got about five seconds before I…"

"He… struggled, a lot," Espio told them solemnly, keeping his tone even. "I could gather that much. Eggman was involved. And… water was involved." He paused meaningfully. "Have either of you ever had a near-drowning experience?"

Tails gulped, still clutching the strap of the communicator while Amy, suddenly speechless, held the bulk of it. "Yeah, when I was little. I… I think a lot of people have, haven't they?"

Say yes, the fox thought. Say a lot of people have. Make it sound like something normal. An everyday scare.

"Any thoughts about it?" the chameleon asked, easing the subject forward with contrived calm.

Tails almost couldn't get himself to respond. "It's… t-terrifying."

"How long?"

"What?"

"How long did it last?"

Nausea gripped him hard as he realized where Espio was going with this. The edges of his vision narrowed in. He squirmed uncomfortably, wanting more than anything to escape the conversation all together. "I g-guess m-maybe fifteen seconds…?"

Don't tell me, he thought repeatedly. Don't tell me, oh please don't tell me. Say something reassuring. Say Sonic's okay and this is all some huge mistake.

"Imagine that feeling on repeat for about fifteen minutes."

Amy shoved the communicator back into Tails's hands and stood up before he could react. She pulled out the two Chaos Emeralds and thrust them against the far wall, her conviction from minutes ago all but forgotten as her goals changed completely. Numbly, the fox watched her storm away. He knew what she was planning to do, but he couldn't bring the words forth to stop her. He didn't even trust himself to move.

"Tails," Espio said softly, "Stay with me. Sonic is alive; that much I am certain of."

"Wh-why… why the intercom?" the fox asked in a croaky voice.

Espio knew what he meant. "I believe Doctor Eggman wanted all these people to fear him. What better way to do so then let them hear the anguish he caused?" There was a touch of bitterness in his voice. "Eggman is a coward himself."

"Espio…" Tails said desperately, throat tightening around the aching bulge that was suddenly there, "you have to help him. He can't stay trapped in there. You have to _help_ him."

"I will do everything I can," the detective assured him. "When I find him, you will be the first to know."

"I hope… I hope he's okay," Tails managed, trying to control the trembling in his voice. "I miss him. I want to t-talk to him so bad. You'll let me talk to him, right?"

"Of course. I said I would. Just keep your communicator on."

"Things had just started going right," the fox said quietly. "This can't be real. How did it come to something like this? Now everything's all wrong again… I just want this to be over…"

"You should go collect Amy. Talk her down a bit, take a break, and then figure out how you're going to retrieve and protect the Master Emerald. I… I know this is difficult, Tails. But I assure you, that is the best way you and Amy can help right now."

Tails sniffled. "How… how did you know she left?"

"Because she's not talking."

He laughed a little, which somehow made it even more difficult not to cry. "Okay. I guess I'm going to go now. Keep in contact, all right?"

"Yes. And Tails?"

"Yeah, Espio?"

"Fight with vigor. Sonic is not the only person this world needs right now. If I may be so bold, I dare say I do not think he would appreciate you two sitting around feeling upset on his behalf… even now."

"I'm… I'm not going to," Tails said, trying to force some strength back into his words. "That was never my plan. I'm going to do something about all this. I have to."

It went unsaid that the conversation was over. Tails snatched up the Chaos Emeralds and ran, not bothering to close the door behind him. "Amy!" he shouted, but he couldn't see her pink form anywhere. "Amy, I—"

"I'm back here."

Tails whirred around to face the source of the voice, though his first instinct was that it couldn't belong to Amy. It was too broken, too distressed to belong to the upbeat Amy he knew.

She was sitting against the side of his house, arms wrapped around her knees, tears making little trails down her face.

"Amy…"

"I try… I try so hard to stay strong for him, and _because _of him. But I, I can't right now, this is just too crazy! I'm worried about him, I'm worried about Knuckles, I'm worried about the whole prison… I'm worried about us! And I know… I know we can make a difference, if we go protect the Master Emerald and all… but no matter how hard I try, I can't stop feeling selfish about it! I can't stop thinking to myself, 'why can't we make a difference in Meka Tower instead so that Sonic can get free?'"

Tentatively, Tails approached her, looking her in the eyes. "I don't think that's selfish," he said, dropping down to one knee. "That's just normal."

"Things aren't supposed to get this bad. We're not supposed to still be so far from succeeding. Sonic's not supposed to be trapped and getting hurt by Eggman. I feel like a failure, Tails! I've been trying so hard to be strong, for you and for everyone… but I just don't even know what to say now…"

The fox offered her a timid smile, sunlight glancing off his moist blue eyes. "Well… maybe it's my turn to be strong, then."

The expression on Amy's face betrayed her struggle; the mental battle between pulling herself together or losing it completely. Not knowing what else to do, she met his gaze and clung to it with desperate eyes.

"I'm worried too," Tails said. "I'm not going to pretend I'm not. But, I mean, let's give Sonic some credit. You were saying how you want to be strong because of him… yet here we are not even having any faith in _his _strength? Why not? I mean, imagine Espio contacted us right now and said he found Sonic. Imagine we got to talk to him _right now_, and imagine what he'd say. He'd ask how things were going and poke fun at Eggman a bit and stuff, and we'd realize we were worrying over nothing and that this was just another day."

"We don't know that," Amy said, voice nasally from crying. "We don't know if Espio can find him. We don't even know if he's going to live through all this now. He was almost drowned! Eggman's mad, Tails, and Sonic is _trapped_! Don't you get it?" she wailed urgently. "He could die in there! Eggman could finish him so easily, intentionally or not! And why wouldn't he? What reason do we even have to believe it's ever going to be okay again?"

As her voice rose, so did Tails's, but for entirely different reasons. "It just _will be_! You _know _Sonic's going to make it, Amy!" he said stubbornly, willing her to believe his words, willing himself to believe his words. "You know he's going to survive!"

"You say that like he can control it himself! Sonic's not in control of everything, Tails! I have faith in him, but how can I have faith in the situation? If you're… if you're sleeping and someone decides to hit you, it doesn't matter how much faith I have in you, it's not going to stop you from getting hit!"

"Well there's nothing we can do about that part of it," Tails admitted, looking away briefly, "but I guess… I guess I have to believe Sonic can take the blow. Listen, we just found out all this a few minutes ago. Let's let it sit for a little while. Maybe in the morning it won't seem so bad. Maybe tomorrow _will_ feel like just another day." He stood up and extended a hand. "I need a good night's sleep, and you probably do too. But tomorrow I'm going to see what I can do about getting the Master Emerald away from… whoever that is. Still want to help me?"

Amy grasped his hand and pulled herself up. "Of course I do."

"Why don't you sleep in the spare room? I'll have the Tornado ready to go in the morning, and we can take off without wasting any time."

"Okay, that's a good idea." She followed Tails back into the workshop and let him lead her down the hall. The atmosphere felt different; dark. The house felt different. Suddenly nothing looked or felt the same as it had before, even though everything surrounding them hadn't changed. "And Tails… thanks. You helped."

xxx

Tails made for the garage. It was at the opposite end of the house, where Amy wouldn't hear him if she still happened to be awake. He hastily activated his communicator and began fiddling with the small buttons on the side, plopping down in the Tornado once he had closed himself in the garage. If he was still receiving a signal from Espio, then surely he would be able to locate signals from other communicators in Meka Tower, assuming there were any…

"Knuckles?" he said, testing the waters. "Knuckles… are you there?"

There was no response. Tails tried to remember if Knuckles had been wearing a communicator the last time he had seen him.

"Knuckles," he tried again, twisting and turning the tiny dials, seeking noise. "Testing, testing, testing…"

He changed the frequency and spoke into it louder. Just in case he somehow had another communicator, or could somehow hear him… "Sonic, bro, are you there? I just wanted you to know… that I still believe in you…"

He was answered with silence.

Tails cleared his throat and began fiddling with the communicator again, refocusing himself on the matter at hand instead of his own emotions. He had to. If he focused on his emotions he would sob his eyes out and drown in his own tears. He had to make progress.

Several more times he spoke into the thing, and getting the same response (or lack thereof) every time. He found himself staring at the thing as if maybe its design had some ideas. "Hello…?" he said one last, hopeless time.

"Well, well, Tails." The responding voice was familiar, but not the kind of familiar he had been hoping for. "I haven't heard your voice in a while. It's been since Space Colony ARK, has it not?"

"Eggman!" he breathed, and was surprised at the loathing in his own voice. "Why are you contacting me?"

"What's this, now? Here I thought you contacted me."

"You thought wrong."

"Ouch, somebody sounds angry. What's the matter? Still touchy about that incident with the space capsule?"

Tails remembered how angry he had been when Eggman had attempted to kill Sonic on the space colony. It was a potent brand of anger that could only be matched by the way he felt now. "Speaking of which…" he began, blood boiling, "remember after all that, when the world was saved, and you said your grandfather shouldn't have tried to destroy it? How is what _you're _doing right now any better?"

"Oh, child. I am not trying to destroy it, I am merely trying to recreate it the way it should be. You must understand that I need a large handful of people to make this work."

"You better let everyone go, or you're going to be sorry, just like you were after launching Sonic from Space Colony ARK!"

"Hoho, well, I can guarantee your rodent friend has since seen worse days than _that_, and I'm not sorry yet!"

"If you go anywhere near him again, you're going to have to answer to _me _like you did that day! Stay away from him!"

Eggman laughed. "Well la-tee-da! Someone has developed an attitude."

"You're not the _only _one who's upped his game, Eggman!"

"Good to know. After all, Sonic isn't posing much of a challenge for me lately. A man needs some entertainment!"

"Well, maybe you'll find it entertaining that I saw through your trick!"

"What's this?"

"I know the real Knuckles is in Meka Tower, and that the one on Angel Island is somebody you've taken advantage of, isn't it? Or it's some kind of advanced robot!"

There was a string of static, starting off loud and growing quieter. Tails could only imagine it was Eggman sighing into whatever communication device he was using. "Oh, fox-boy," he said, sounding amused. "You were a blabbermouth then and you're a blabbermouth now. Some things never change, do they?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"The day we were just speaking of, on Space Colony ARK. Don't you remember? You were the one who unintentionally told me that Sonic's Chaos Emerald was fake. Just now, you told me you discovered part of my scheme. Thank you for giving me insight as to what your next move might be."

_No, no, what was I thinking…?_ "Well, you're one to talk," Tails muttered, trying to retain his confidence. "You spoil _your _plans to us all the time."

"Now, now. That should be reworded so that it is in the past tense. I don't do that any_more_. You are awfully critical, Tails."

There was static again. Tails held the communicator up to his ear, straining to hear through the obnoxious noise. "Eggman...?"

"Oh, finally. Pshhh, pshhh. I was _hoping _we would encounter interference. You're interrupting my work."

"Eggman… I'm not kidding. Don't hurt Sonic."

"As if you making such a request will change anything. What you need to know, dear fox, is that Sonic brought everything upon himself. Pshhhhh. From here on out, his fate is determined by his choices. More specifically, his cooperation with me. And if it's any consolation, pshhh, he _knows _it."

"Good luck with _that_," Tails retorted. "Sonic and cooperation don't belong in the same sentence."

"In that case, I would be wishing _Sonic _luck if I were you."

"Eggman…"

"Oh, listen to that. Pshhh, pshhhhhh. Sounds like more static. Pshhhh, I'm pshhhhhh, psh. Don't pshhh, you'll pshhh end up failing. Pshhhhhhhhh."

"That's not a very convincing performance," Tails said. "Too much of a coward to talk to an eight-year-old?"

The doctor was already gone. Fuming, Tails went back into his house and threw himself in bed. He wrestled with the blankets for an hour before reaching an adequate level of comfort, but even then, it was only physical comfort.

His mind was reeling with fury and anxiety. At some point on the edge of sleep, he wondered what Sonic was doing, right then, at that very moment.

xxx

Tails awoke to a tickle on his face. He snapped his eyes open as if he hadn't been sleeping at all, nearly jumping at the sudden intrusion even though it had only been a mere touch. He was met by one of his namesakes, its tip brushing lightly against his cheek as it was pulled up by the buoyancy of the water.

…_Wait._

Blinking, he pushed the obstruction aside – back behind him where it belonged – to see what lay beyond. There was, unsurprisingly, more water. It was calm and clear, like the bottom of a pool, except he could see no end to it. It just went on infinitely. A world of complete blue, so fluid and tranquil…

For a long time he simply stared ahead, not bothering to try and go anywhere, because there was really nowhere to go, despite the openness of this wet world. It was all the same. On some other level of consciousness, he was idly wondering why his eyes didn't sting, and why he wasn't floating upwards like water usually caused one to do. His tails had reacted to normal scientific laws – why hadn't the rest of his body? He had plenty of air in his lungs…

Air.

_Wh-why can I hold my breath so long? Shouldn't I want to breathe by now?_

Suddenly the endlessness of it all began to unnerve him. Behind all the superficial stillness and serenity, something was drastically wrong.

He took a heavy, strained step forward. It took way more effort than it should have; more effort than it normally took on _land_, never mind in water, where one was supposed to feel lighter…

He looked down at his feet and saw blocks of concrete encasing them instead of shoes.

For some reason, it didn't bother him as much as it should have, though he wondered how he had gotten to this point. Had he been knocked out in his sleep and taken somewhere? Surely there was a way out, surely he was just too sleep-disoriented to grasp what he was supposed to be grasping…

Intent on doing something now, Tails lifted his awkward, blocky feet one at a time and turned to see what was behind him.

"_S—!_" He started to call, but cut himself off with his own hands, remembering abruptly that it was impossible to breathe under water.

Facing him from twenty feet away was his best friend, slowly trudging his way towards him with urgency in his emerald eyes.

_Sonic… _Tails thought to himself. _What in the world is he doing down here? What in the world am _I _doing down here?_

In his panic, he began to need oxygen more than he had before. He closed his eyes, tried to readapt himself to the situation, opened them again. _Stop trying so hard to come to me, _he wanted to tell the blue blur. _You're making yourself tired… stop it…_

As if he had heard, Sonic stopped for the briefest of moments, staring at him like he was crazy. Then he continued dragging himself forward relentlessly. Wanting nothing more than to stop him, Tails made forward to meet him in the middle, hoping the oxygen already in his lungs would suffice for now, until he could get to Sonic… Somehow if they reached each other it would be all better… It had to be…

_Sonic, I'm coming, okay? _Tails thought, and the hedgehog nodded once but didn't stop moving. _Can I… can I hear you too? Say something!_

There was no response, save for those wide green eyes snagging onto his, refusing to cut off eye contact. Tails wanted to breathe; needed to breathe. He knew Sonic was feeling it, too.

Finally, they reached each other, both worn from the journey. Tails grasped his brother's hands, not knowing what else to do. _It's going to be okay, _he tried to think. _It's going to be okay… I'm not going anywhere without you. _Emerald and cerulean eyes met each other again and the fox realized how foreign that gaze was, how long it had really been since he had seen his friend…

_Sonic… bro… I'll be here until the end. Don't let go, it's okay. I'll be here with you until the end._

xxx

Tails woke up sobbing, missing his friend like he had never missed anyone before. Alone in the darkness of his bedroom, he clutched a pillow to himself and let the teardrops fall. It was all he could do to gasp in squeaky breaths of air and cry more. Amy came in moments later and wrapped him in a silent hug, no questions asked.

The night passed slowly.

xxx

"_What have you done to Sonic? I'll never forgive you for this!" –Tails, Sonic Adventure 2_

Credit to An-extreme-fan-of-me for the quote choice on this one!

xxx

_In Chapter 15— _Oh wait. Actually, I gotta leave this one in the dark for now. Hmhm.

'Til next time, Sonic fans! Have fun gushing over Generations this week, those of you who are getting it; I know I will!


	16. Chapter 15: Speak With Your Heart

Screw Fridays, I really want to get this chapter out here. Not much to say at the moment, other than the usual…

Enjoy. :)

CHAPTER 15: SPEAK WITH YOUR HEART

xxx

Third-person perspective

xxx

"Sonic?"

It was either very, very late or very, very early. The slightest purple glow came from the hallway, bleeding into the cells only enough to suffice as a nightlight. Sonic was leaned against the back wall with a pillow, eyes closed, hands in his lap, legs crossed. The sound of the rolling thunder and rain pattering on the roof drowned out his quiet breathing. It was a peaceful sound to him. A gentle visit from the world outside.

The hedgehog opened one eye to address Lucas, the single emerald oval focusing on the window from which he was speaking. "I'm all right, Lucas," he said tiredly. If his friend's inquiring tone was anything to go by, they were about to have another variation of an increasingly familiar conversation. "Can we leave it alone already? No offense, but you're making this place feel even smaller and tighter than it already does."

Sonic knew his accusation wasn't entirely fair. He couldn't blame Lucas just because the situation had gotten to him a bit. Besides, there had been many a time where the human had been sleeping, and therefore quiet. It had made things no easier.

It was irritating to say the least. He was constantly hyper-aware of the magnets under his skin, to a greater extent than he had ever been before, and just asaware of the fact that he had been locked in a room for over two months. He could think of no way to combat either circumstance, and it was nerve-wracking. His vulnerability had been exposed to himself, and the reality of it all had reeled him in.

He had no defense, and nowhere to go. It was that simple.

But it was over, he knew… for the moment. He was alive and _breathing_ and no matter what the future held, the past could not harm him.

Breathing. Right. Appreciating the significance very much, Sonic momentarily closed his eyes and inhaled deeply.

"Y-yeah," Lucas finally stammered. "Okay, I won't ask. But that actually wasn't what I was going to do anyway."

The hedgehog looked at him again now, becoming slightly curious at the notion that his friend had something new to say. "What's going on?" he urged, sitting up a little and trying to engage himself. Dozing to the sound of the rain had been nice, but he didn't want to become detached from the portion of the world that existed in here, either. That wouldn't help anything.

"I apologized to Kai earlier, not long after you went to bed."

The blue blur cocked his head, idly wondering why Lucas wasn't waiting until morning to tell him this. "I was under the impression you guys were on good terms."

"Well yeah, we started being nicer to each other the other day, when…" The young male gestured with his hands, and Sonic nodded that he got it. "But I did some thinking and felt like I owed him an actual apology for hitting him that one time."

"So...? How'd it go?" Sonic asked a little impatiently. Lucas thought to himself that the hedgehog had become more responsive in the past few days, but he was still out of sorts. He wondered if he could do anything about that, or if it was appropriate to try yet.

"He hugged my face." Lucas gestured to said face with a splayed hand, just in case Sonic didn't know what a face was. "Little bastard cut off my oxygen supply for a few seconds there. I think he – ooh." He cringed as Sonic gave him a sidelong glance. "Shit. _Shit_. I could have executed that last part a little better."

For his part, Sonic appeared pleasantly amused by the man's sudden nervousness. "Relax," he said, giving a nonchalant shrug. "It's cool. But you kind of walked into that."

"I guess I did," he said, and betrayed in his expression were the signs of a suppressed smile. Sonic's own eyes lit up at this; seeing the people around him smiling really helped lighten the atmosphere. He realized the reason everyone around him was tense was because _he _had been tense lately, but still. When those little bouts of joy broke through, it was like nothing had ever happened, like circumstances had never taken the drastic turn they had, like they were here by choice instead of being trapped… even if only for that instant.

During the momentary lapse in conversation, Sonic wriggled his legs out from beneath the blanket, gave it a peculiar look, and stretched.

"What was that all about?" Lucas asked, taking in Sonic's expression and growing a bit concerned. Any unusual expression on the face of the blue blur set off alarm bells lately.

"Blankets are huge. Could drown in 'em." Sonic paused, reconsidering his wording as Lucas echoed his subtle glance from a minute ago. "Oh. Haha, oopsie."

"Were you being serious or did you just need an excuse to one-up my accidental pun?"

"Wouldn't make a lousy reference like _that _on purpose even if it did one-up yours. No, the blankets really _are _huge. I mean, I never sleep with the things, but it's been cool in here lately. Like Eggster got the AC going or something."

"You don't sleep with blankets? I thought everyone slept with blankets."

Sonic shrugged. "Only every now and then. They're kinda irritating, honestly. Fur's enough of a blanket most of the time anyway."

"They're probably just huge to you because you're… well… short," Lucas observed simply. "But still, don't blankets make you feel more secure? I mean – Hey, quit looking at me like that. I _know _they're not gonna stop you from getting hurt if someone wants to hurt you. But still, it's just kind of a mental security thing for a lot of people."

"Eh, I feel pretty secure most of the time when I'm sleeping. I go up high a lot. Rooftops, and stuff."

"Sure. Places that'll stop anyone from getting to you except for the people who _actually want to hurt you_. Like Eggman. Totally secure."

The hedgehog shrugged again. "No rooftops in here anyway. But in that case, guess I'm in a pinch either way, aren't I? And heck, why get the blanket involved in this if Eggman decides to turn on the magnets again?"

Lucas gave him a deadpan look, accounting for the brief silence while he secretly gulped back horror and relocated his voice. "Don't even… don't even say that."

"That."

The man's expression went through a series of changes, first retaining the scared glare that had formed at Sonic's words, then growing confused like gears were turning behind his dark green eyes, and then finally relaxing as he processed the joke.

Sonic's face changed, like he had just remembered something. "Hey," he said to Lucas, changing the subject. "Now that we, ah, broke the ice, there was something I wanted to ask you about."

"Okay?"

The hedgehog deliberated uncharacteristically for a moment. "How did you know what was going to happen?" he asked finally.

Lucas tightened up again; he did not like the direction this conversation had suddenly taken.

"I didn't know exactly what was going to happen. It was just the way the androids talked about you… I knew something was going on. Eggman was angry because you broke his scanner… I think that was what drove him to it. That and he realized his mistake about the Chaos Emeralds and knew he needed to figure out their connection to emotion, too, not just DNA and physical attributes."

"So, uh, you just forgot to tell me about it, or what?" They were both aware that wasn't the case, but Lucas knew Sonic was trying to phrase the question in the most forgiving way possible.

It was the question Lucas had been dreading, no matter how it was phrased.

"I know you must have had your reasons for not mentioning it before," Sonic added. "I'm not accusing you or anything, I'm honestly just wondering."

"I don't know," Lucas replied awkwardly. "I mean, I had no idea how his plans would be carried out, so I wouldn't have been able to tell you much anyway, at the time. And… and I guess I didn't want to be the bearer of bad news. Eggman doing something terrible would have seemed more inevitable if I said it out loud, and… and I… I didn't want it to affect you before it had to."

Sonic's ears perked up a bit at the last sentence, as Lucas's voice had reduced to a self-conscious mumble. Lucas was good at arguing when he wanted to be, but after everything that had happened, it was like he was afraid to say the wrong thing. He treated the hedgehog like glass.

For the first time in several days, the Sonic's smile was genuine enough to melt away everything bad that had been lingering in his expression, even if only for a little bit. "What in the world makes you think it would have? For Chaos's sake, Lucas. You overheard a chunk of metal talking to another chunk of metal."

"Well when you put it like _that_…" Lucas muttered. "It's not that simple and you know it. Would you really wanted to have _known _that was coming?"

"Nah, not really," Sonic admitted with a shrug. "Like I said, was just curious. So, thanks then, for keeping it to yourself. I'm guessing that explains why you made me say I'd never give up, too, right? You knew something was wrong."

There was guilt in Lucas's expression as he nodded, and a little surprise at the bluntness of Sonic's question. "That wasn't fair. I'm sorry."

"Hey. I'm not after an apology here. Besides, I wouldn't have said that if I didn't really mean it. Wasn't hard to tell _something_ was gonna happen at that point, but… I always keep my word. If we can do something that keeps more people from getting hurt, and stop Eggman's plot, then I guess it's worth the consequences." Sonic paused as he heard himself. _Yeah, actually, maybe it is._ "Hopefully you feel the same?"

Lucas nodded. The tension left his muscles, though there was no reason for it to have been there in the first place. "Definitely," he said, in contrast to his sentiments several days ago. There was an instant of hesitant silence before he continued in a tender voice: "And regardless of how the whole Chaos Emerald thing turned out… I'm just happy you're alive, Sonic. You've _got _to be happy for that much."

Sonic's emerald eyes lifted to make contact and he bit his bottom lip for a moment, as if trying to keep sudden overwhelming emotion at bay. Then, in a quiet but ardent tone Lucas had never heard him use before, the hedgehog breathed, "I am… _so _happy to be alive."

Lucas looked deeply proud of that iron will, but not at all surprised. He had tried so hard to believe his blue friend would just need time. A bit of a break. But he hadn't actually thought it could be true. It had been wishful thinking more than anything else… until now, anyway. "And Sonic," he murmured with a crooked smile, a thought he'd had days ago recurring once more, "I think I get it now."

The same peculiar grin that had worked its way into Sonic's features a few days ago began to form again now, smugness betraying itself in the creases of his eyebrows. "Get what?" he asked knowingly. _This_, he understood, was the reason Lucas had wanted to talk in the middle of the night. They were venturing into territory that no one else was meant to know about.

Lucas motioned for him to come up to their window so that he could speak quietly. Sonic did, standing on his toes to reach the bars and then pulling himself up by them. He slid his legs between two spaces on either side of a bar, and then dropped himself into a sitting position on the ledge, so that his legs were hanging into Lucas's cell. One of his hands still held a bar by the fingertips so that he could maintain balance there.

They were at eye level with each other, less than a foot apart. Lucas realized that for as long as they had known each other now, they had never made any sort of contact. He never so much as shook the hedgehog's hand. It was in the background of his mind – there were far more important things – but still.

Lucas deliberated for a long moment, wondering if he should actually say what he was thinking. What if he was wrong? Being wrong would be so terrible, and so shameful. He didn't want to make Sonic feel that way, or remind him any more of what happened.

If it had indeed really happened that way.

_What if I'm _right_?_

Lucas knew he was never going to be any more certain than he was right now. He desperately hoped he was right. His nerves were in bundles. Either way this conversation went, it was huge. Now that he had committed himself to suggesting it, though, all the possibilities where he might have went wrong crept into his mind. Just like when he had so timidly and doubtfully brought it up before.

But he would not show that doubt. Not today. Sonic would not tell him the truth unless he was certain Lucas knew it anyway. He had to _know _it.

If he was wrong, it would be awkward and sad, but ultimately it wouldn't matter. Wouldn't change anything. If he was right, however, it would make all the difference in the world.

If he was right… Sonic would appreciate his faith. Wouldn't he?

_Wouldn't he?_

Lucas drew a quiet breath, and then, in a voice hushed from excited anxiety, finally said it. "You lied to me the other day, Sonic. You _are _keeping something quiet… out of a desire to protect." Lucas paused to watch that familiar subtle smirk finish coming over Sonic's face, utterly destroying any uncertainty the human still had about the notion. He was right. He was _right!_ "You…" His throat locked and for a second he could only stand there stunned. "You never even tried to draw on that Chaos Emerald's energy, did you?"

An instant passed with the world in standstill. Then, quiet victory in his eyes, Sonic slowly shook his head.

And then, suddenly, it was so obvious – right at the same time it was utterly unbelievable. Lucas's mind was reeling. He watched Sonic watching him, rendered incapable of even wondering if his astonishment showed in his eyes. Words could never do his feelings justice but he spoke anyway, managing to push out the only element of this astounding truth that he could wrap his mind around.

"…I should have known. I know you."

Sonic breathed a soft laugh, looked away briefly, and looked back again. "You _do_ know me," he said, holding up one finger and waving it once, gentle but slightly admonishing. "And that's not changing. That much I can promise ya."

"I… I don't even…"

"So what clued you in?" Sonic asked, looking like he already knew. Suddenly everything about him looked different to Lucas. He had no idea if the Sonic's mood actually _had _changed over the course of their conversation, or if it was just his own perception of what had been on his face all along.

He no longer looked traumatized; he just looked afraid, because he was.

He didn't look angry; he looked restricted, because he _was_.

He didn't seem quiet. He seemed kind of serene. Humbled yet proud. Because he was.

"The other day…" Lucas cleared his throat, trying to make his voice sound more casual than he felt and working through the emotion-driven tightness that was settling there. "I was… I was trying to tell you it was okay that you wanted to escape that. And as soon as I said it, I realized, 'wait… do I have any reason to believe he actually tried to use it?' And… and something just felt off, like I had missed the mark. I mean, we _all _missed the mark! But… but I _did _get to know you, Sonic, and I should have realized. There were two reasons the Emerald might not have helped you escape: either you _couldn't_ tap into its power, or you never _tried _to tap into its power."

Lucas swallowed, feeling short of breath after talking so fast, heart pounding furiously against the back of his sternum. Sonic waited expectantly.

"You were… you were going crazy in there, Sonic," he said, quieter now. "I didn't think at the time that you even heard some of your own words. They were things that… things that no one would ever expect you to say. I've never seen anyone…" he stopped himself and started again. "I never even considered the possibility that you didn't even _try _to escape with it. The way things were going, it just seemed so impossible, like you wouldn't have had a choice." Lucas stopped again. "I'm sorry. What am I saying? You're right here in front of me. God, I can be so thoughtless sometimes."

Sonic still said nothing… but made a subtle gesture for Lucas to carry the conversation forward.

"That was the whole point of Eggman taking advantage of something he knew you feared," Lucas went on slowly, cautiously, glancing off at the floor. "He was _sure _you'd go for the out. He wanted to be confident that if you couldn't escape that, it was because the Emerald wasn't reacting to your fear, not because _you _weren't letting yourself use it… because he's so arrogant! Sonic, even if he figures out the biological part of it, he can't create this Chaos army of his unless he can get a _mental_ foothold too; some kind of emotional trigger that would persuade people to draw on the Chaos Emeralds!"

Lucas's voice gathered more conviction as he spoke excitedly. Meanwhile, Sonic had begun to nod slowly, already well aware of all this.

"And if he thinks that's impossible… where can he even _go _from here? _Sonic!_" He pressed fingertips to his temples, locking eyes with the blue blur. "You… you sneaky, reckless bastard!"

"Glad to know you're on the same plane of thought that I was," Sonic said quietly, speaking for the first time in several minutes. Lucas's excitement was contagious and reflecting in the hedgehog's face, but he knew there were things he had to say as soon as he could. "Listen for a sec. There's a loophole, you know. We still don't _know _if the Chaos Emeralds can turn fear into power or not."

"But Eggman never has to know that _we _don't know!" Lucas said. "Sonic… we can't say anything about this to anyone. If word gets around, he could catch onto what really happened."

"That's why I wasn't even going to tell _you_ before," Sonic said. "But I had a feeling you weren't quite convinced. You're pretty persistent."

"You wouldn't know anything about persistence, would you, Sonic?"

A modest chuckle. "What's that?"

Lucas laughed once and then made himself get serious again. "Really, though… you know I won't say anything about this. Right?"

Sonic held his gaze, violet light dancing in his eyes. "Listen," he said carefully, his voice little more than a murmur now, "you have to know what we're caught up in, here. It's not only a matter of keeping it quiet from the people around us." He paused. "Eggman knows you and I talk. Neither of us are safe. Since he didn't get the results he wanted, he might want _you_ to tell him if I was faking trying to use the Chaos Emerald. And we know now that he'll take drastic measures to get what he wants."

Sonic saw in Lucas's face that the possibility hadn't occurred to him before.

"Hey, don't you look at me like that," he said, never breaking eye contact, "I want you to know right now that if anything like that happens, I'm not gonna hold it against you if—"

"No! Damn it, Sonic, I knew you'd go there. It would directly affect you! Sonic—!"

"_Shhh!_" The hedgehog hissed. "If you're not quiet, the androids could pick up on this and _expand _that possibility. Let's try to keep it down, okay?"

"Don't act like it doesn't matter if I were to say something. It does. You shouldn't expect less of anyone else than you expect of yourself; it's not fair to you or me, and you never gave in when it was everyone else at stake."

_Wow. You _truly_ never gave in._

"Reverse-therapy is one of the cheapest arguments out there," Sonic muttered, giving Lucas a funny look. "My turn to use it: I wouldn't want someone to hold it against me if I messed up, so it wouldn't be fair of me to hold anything against you, either. Right?"

"Sonic," Lucas began again in an agitated whisper, "that's not the point. I'm not trying to one-up you, here. Listen to me: if I were to say something, and if he were to somehow find out you faked it…"

"I know what could happen," Sonic interrupted, a bit more tersely than he intended. "Which is why I deeply hope we don't have to cross that road at all. I'm just saying that if we _do_…" He trailed off meaningfully. The two friends held each other's gazes. "We needed to have this conversation, Lucas. Just so we're both aware of everything."

"What I want to be aware of is what in the world _changed_ today_,_" Lucas said uncertainly, gesturing to Sonic.

For his part, the hedgehog looked mildly self-conscious. He knew what Lucas meant. "Well… things had to be said. Time's not going to wait for me to catch up, so I guess I just have to get the ground beneath my feet again, don't I?" He paused. "I'd love it if we could just forget how I've been acting the last few days."

Tentatively, timidly, Lucas reached through the bars and touched Sonic's shoulder. The hedgehog looked up at him. "You were bluffing when you made Eggman think the Chaos Emerald wasn't working for you… but that's all you were faking, wasn't it?"

Sonic's eyes glistened in the darkness as he nodded. For a second, Lucas saw the severity of the experience in his face, a type of dread that he realized he would probably never understand. "You can't fake your way through something like that."

"You're an incredible person, Sonic," Lucas said gently, giving his shoulder a squeeze. "I just want you to know that."

Sonic's eyes flickered away briefly, towards his back wall, then back at Lucas. "Circumstances don't make someone incredible."

"Agreed. Doesn't change my statement at all."

The blue blur smiled softly, eyes still shining with emotion. "You don't know everything, then. You don't know…"

Lucas cut him off. "I don't need to know everything," he said simply, smiling back. "I know enough."

They basked in the silence, Sonic still sitting with his legs through the bars, Lucas still standing there on the other side, looking around idly as he considered something.

"…But I guess there is one thing I'm still wondering."

"What's that?"

"Sonic… do you think you would have been able to escape if you tried? Gotten off the panel, or even broke out of the cell?"

"The panel? Maybe. But… Eggman's smarter than to secure a way for me to escape Meka Tower all together. I'd imagine these gates are really reinforced, so even a Chaos Emerald's power probably wouldn't have been able to help. Honestly, though, I don't really care to think about alternatives. What happened, mattered. I don't want to start thinking of the what-ifs especially if it's possible I could have been completely free again."

"Fair enough." Lucas sighed. "Man, I should really stop talking. I'm probably just making you feel worse."

"Nah, it's okay. Nothing that hasn't crossed my mind already, anyway. And besides, I think giving in would have made me feel worse than anything. This is easier to deal with than that would have been. Besides, it isn't _all _bad."

"Yeah," Lucas agreed, "I guess it's not."

"And hey, can't just let you have all the fun blowing up bots, can I?"

In response the young male smiled and rolled his eyes. He knew Sonic did have some genuine fun fighting against Eggman, but he also knew the hedgehog meant far more by his words than he was actually saying. "Thanks, Sonic."

"Yeah, yeah." They both were quiet for a time, though the conversational atmosphere still lingered warmly. After a minute or so, Sonic spoke up again. "So, what are you going to do when you get out of here?"

"I… I haven't even thought about that, really," he answered. "Probably just going back to the day-to-day stuff, you know? Let my roommate know I'm not dead for starters, catch up with friends and family, see if I can get my job back…"

"What do you do?"

"I work for this up-and-coming pollution prevention company," Lucas said. "Actually, I don't know if you'd even consider it up-and-coming anymore; it's made some great progress since I got on board a few years ago."

"Neat. Good cause, and stuff."

"Yeah," Lucas agreed, surprised at Sonic's interest. He realized the hedgehog didn't very often bring up day-to-day things. It was nice. "We do a lot of presentations at schools and workplaces and the like. We'd just been starting to get decent funding when this whole Meka Tower thing happened. My group was supposed to start cleaning up this river soon. You know, the one near the edge of Station Square? A lot of chao colonize at it?"

"Yeah. Think you'll still be able to once we get out of here?"

"They've probably already started," Lucas said. "I mean, I'm stuck here, and maybe a few other people I work with too, for all I know. But that doesn't mean everything just stops. We sit in here useless to anyone on the outside… and the world keeps turning."

The conversation trailed off into silence. Sonic was swinging his dangling legs back and forth gently, one of his heels tapping the wall of his friend's cell now and then. Lucas almost wanted to ask him the same thing he'd been asked – what would he do when he was free? – but decided against it just as he drew breath to do so. It came out in a soft sigh.

Sonic, unlike him, would probably just get on with his life and never look back. The thought stung him. 'Moving forward' was looked upon as such a positive thing, but Lucas didn't see it that way. He couldn't imagine Sonic just forgetting all about their experiences together.

Just then, as if reading his mind, the hedgehog asked, "So where do you live?"

"Who, me?" Lucas looked back up at him, caught off guard by the question, and received a look that said something akin to 'duh.' "I live over in Station Square. You don't happen to know where the Chaotix Detective Agency is, do you?"

"I know exactly where that is! They're friends of mine."

"No kidding!" Lucas exclaimed, smiling. "I live right across the road from them in the apartments there. Sonic… when we do get out of here, maybe we could hang out sometime, you know?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"Well, you know where I'll be. But you're all over the place when you're free, aren't you?"

Sonic nodded. "But you know, your 'far' is my 'close.' I'm never more than a few hours away… and that's if I'm _really_ far, by the way."

"Do you come around now and then, though?"

"Oh sure, all the time. Was telling Tails before I got stuck in here that Station Square still has some of the best food. Err, not that that's the _only _reason I come around," he added.

"You know, it's a hard concept to grasp that this'll actually probably end one day. We've been in here for so long, it's starting to feel like the norm now. Like the standard… and it's everything else that's weird."

"This'll never feel normal to me," Sonic said, looking off at nothing. "I need some space. It'll be great just to go for a run again."

"Don't get me wrong, I want to get out of here too," Lucas said. "But… I guess at the same time, I kind of don't want the adventure to end. The good parts, anyway. I don't know what I'll do with myself. I know that's not a great way to be thinking, since Eggman would eventually win if this continued on. Not to mention the danger you and I are still in." He met Sonic's eyes. "I feel like I _should _feel bad saying this… but a part of me wouldn't want all of this to be over yet, even if it could be."

"Don't feel bad, then," Sonic told him. "Enjoy it while you can."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah! I feel that way every time there's some kind of adventure."

"I'm not saying I like _all _of it," Lucas added as an afterthought. "I mean, there's just some things that shouldn't have happened. Some things that are beyond the scope of 'adventure' the way I think of it."

Sonic grinned. "Why's that?" he asked. "An adventure's no fun if it's too easy, right?"

For a moment, Lucas looked at him doubtfully, gauging the genuineness of his words. He had never wanted to think of Sonic's courage as being contrived, but…

"What?" the hedgehog asked, frowning at him.

"Can I ask yet, or are you going to give me the oh-this-again look?"

"Ask what, now?"

"You gonna be all right? Really?"

Realization dawned in Sonic's eyes as he caught onto his friend's concerns. He chuckled softly. "Of course I am," he said, meeting Lucas's gaze with a sincere smile, and Lucas believed him. "I mean, it's still kinda hard knowing what could happen, but it's just another day, right? What's done is _done_."

They were the words Lucas had been hoping to hear all week. He realized it had been the longest week of his life.

"And Lucas?"

"Yeah, Sonic?"

Sonic waited a beat, like he was giving the words themselves a moment of silence to accent their meaning. "…Thank you." He let out a content breath. "It's been nice talking to you."

Lucas shook his head. "_You_ don't need to thank anyone for anything right now, Sonic. But you're welcome." He looked away for a second as if the conversation was over, and then something occurred to him. "One more thing. Where do we go from here? Assuming life's done having its way with you, I mean."

"Eh heh." The hedgehog raised an eyebrow. "Life's never done having its way with me. Hurting me is like Eggman's sport or something. But you're after a serious answer here."

The man shrugged, not entirely sure what to say to that since he was happier than he let on that Sonic _wasn't _being serious.

"To be honest," Sonic said, "I guess I'm still not really sure. But we don't need to be yet. We'll let opportunity decide the answer to that, eh?"

"In other words… you don't plan anything."

Sonic gave him a thumbs-up. "The one thing I _am _planning, though…" He watched Lucas's face form a grin at his tone. "Is that we are going to win this. One way or another."

xxx

"_An adventure's no fun if it's too easy." –Sonic, Sonic Generations_

xxx

_In Chapter 16: Knowing full well what failure could mean, Tails and Amy finally attempt to seize the Master Emerald. Before they even land on Angel Island, things go wrong… _

"_Oh please be okay, Tails!"_

xxx

What's this? A happy chapter in Survivor's Resolve? Surely I jest. ;)

Man, I could NOT decide on a title for this chapter. Others in consideration were: Open Your Heart, Sonic's Deception, Just Another Day, Spirit of Adventure, and Hold Onto What If (and yes, I realize I've used that last one before in another story).

Anyway, I really hope someone out there liked this chapter even half as much as I did. Maybe nothing crazy action-y happened, maybe a few of you already knew if you picked up on the hints… but the point of this chapter wasn't action. Come to think of it, guess I can't really put words to what the point of it was, but hopefully you just… get it. :) I'd love to hear your guys' comments.

See ya next time! How's the Sonic Generating goin'?


	17. Chapter 16: Island of Chaos

Uhh, insert obligatory author's note here? :D Nothin' much to say, but last time I didn't say anything, three different people got weirded out, so.

Ahh, here's something interesting to say that I keep forgetting about! Special thanks to both RedFireGreenThunder5 and xXStoryWolfXx for art related to my stories over on dA! Check them out – links on my profile to the new stuff! Check out the rest of their galleries while you're at it too, they deserve it. Thanks a bunch, guys! ^v^

M'kay, let's do this! Bonus points for generic chapter titles;

CHAPTER 16: ISLAND OF CHAOS

"Don't get out yet."

Amy paused in her motions, holding her undone seatbelt halfway between its receiving bracket and her shoulder. "Why not?"

"Because," Tails said, surveying the flat forest before them, trying to spot the Master Emerald's glow through breaks in the trees, "the last time I came up to Angel Island, I flew Espio myself. We didn't use the Tornado, like we're doing right now, because we were afraid this mystery guardian would hear the engine."

"So you're afraid he already knows we're here?"

"He's going to know we're here soon enough anyway. It's just that the Tornado is a lot stronger than we are, and if we encounter him before getting to the clearing where the Master Emerald's shrine is, I want to be able to fight back somehow."

"Why not use its Cyclone form, then?"

"Hm, good idea." Tails pressed the transformation button. "Buckle yourself back in," he said, voice bumping with the jerky movements the Tornado was making. Two mechanical legs extended from slots on the blue plane's underside, and the landing wheels retracted. The wings slid halfway into their respective compartments, leaving shorter versions of themselves sticking out, and the body of the plane condensed itself.

Once the commotion was over, Amy straightened up in the passenger seat. "What's the plan now, Tails?"

"We head straight for the shrine and take it. Ignore the fake Knuckles if we can… we can take care of him later."

"Are you kidding me?"

"No. If he really is anything like Knuckles, he'll expect me to have some kind of elaborate plan. So I'm doing the opposite – we just go for it. The most important thing is to get the Master Emerald to safety, since we know Eggman's after it."

"Where are you going to put it when we get it?"

Tails smiled a little, noting the tone with which she said 'when.' "I'm thinking this cave I found a while back, when I was looking for Chaos Emeralds. Not the one on Prison Island, but a different one. It's in the side of a cliff, in a thick forest quite a ways away from the city. I laid out some designs for a password-protected door I might build there to keep anyone from getting in. Should be an easy project. But let's do this part first."

"Right," Amy said. "But the only thing is…"

"What?"

"Well, how do we know for sure that this guy is associated with Eggman? You said he looks a lot like Knuckles, but…"

"He looks _too _much like Knuckles," Tails said, looking over at her. "Eggman wanted us to think he _was _Knuckles. And if that's not enough to get you suspicious, remember, Knuckles is the only echidna left. All the others are known to be extinct. And if _that's _not enough…" the fox hesitated. "I talked to Eggman last night."

For a second he considered starting from the beginning and telling Amy about their whole conversation, then thought the better of it. His heart dipped as he remembered what Eggman had said about Sonic. _I'd be wishing him luck if I were you._

"Tails?"

"Huh? Sorry, I'm all right. Just zoned out for a second there."

Amy looked like she was going to ask about Eggman, but then switched tracks as the fox looked back up at her sheepishly. "…Are you thinking about Sonic again too?"

Tails closed his eyes for a second as though making himself invulnerable to visuals would somehow make him invulnerable to the situation. "I'm trying really, _really _hard not to because I don't want to get all upset again like the other day. But you caught me."

"It's okay," she sighed quietly. "I caught myself too."

"The hardest part is not acting. I mean, if we really wanted to… We've broken into places before, Amy. We broke into the jail at Prison Island! Part of me thinks we could actually get Sonic out of there. See him again in just a few days. But… we're all that's left. Anyone else who usually rebels against Eggman is trapped in Meka Tower. And the other Chaotix members say androids have been dispersing to quietly disarm GUN. We're the only ones _left _who can do anything."

"Even GUN…?" Amy whispered in an oddly solemn voice. "Wow, Tails. Eggman's forces are so massive…"

"I personally don't think it's that simple," the fox said in equal tones. "Eggman's got to be making threats to keep people quiet about this… Just like he threatened to blow up the earth if people didn't cooperate before. That's why we have to keep ourselves free." A chill ran down his back as the realization hit him fully for the first time. "If we don't… it's over."

"Will there come a time when we can try to free Meka Tower?"

"I think so, Amy, but not for a while. We have to get the Master Emerald taken care of, and find a way to defeat that imposter, before we can even think about taking on Meka Tower. And collect as many Chaos Emeralds as are still out there. Every loose end has to be tied up, and every problem solved, before we risked getting ourselves trapped in a place like that."

She nodded, now holding a full respect for the seriousness of the situation and its implications beyond Sonic. Still, in light of everything, she couldn't help but say; "You're right. Sonic would want us to stop all the means of Eggman's progress."

"Yeah, he would. But I'm not doing this because it's what would Sonic would want. It's bigger than that. I can't fight just because of him – I'm fighting alongside him. We're in this together, even now…" Tails smiled in spite of everything. "And somehow he's going to do what he's gotta do too, whatever that is. I was upset after that dream the other night, but then I realized… it's just a dream."

"Maybe it is," Amy said, "but to be honest, the reality here isn't so great either. We have to keep on trying, though. We just have to."

"Even the reality," Tails said in a quiet murmur, realizing something. "Speaking of reality… Amy, I've seen Sonic do something incredible before. I… I saw him go into water on his own. And you know the weird thing? I think what drove him to it – speaking of _dreams_ – was a dream _he _had."

The girl looked intrigued. "Really?"

"Yeah. He wanted to fight his fears. But despite the, uh, common denominators of these situations, this doesn't have much to do with water. It has everything to do with Sonic, though. I've never seen him let any bad thing stop him unless it was literally beyond his control." He cleared his throat and then continued quietly: "You can't tell him I told you this, though."

"Wow, Tails! You really gave this some thought! And don't you worry, my lips are sealed. I can keep a secret. You know… it's those kinds of smarts of yours that are getting us so far! I'm starting to think we make a great team here!"

"Right back atcha, Amy," Tails laughed, scratching his head.

"So let me backtrack a little bit here. How did you talk to Eggman last night?"

"Oh, right! Man, we got way off track. Thanks a lot, Sonic." He chuckled once. "Uh, anyway, I accidentally caught Eggman's signal on my com-link. I was trying to see if I could get any signals from Meka Tower… when his voice came through. I told him I knew this Knuckles is a fake, and that the real one is inside Meka Tower."

"But you _didn't _know that for sure."

"Exactly! Eggman thinks I was being a blabbermouth for telling him I knew about his plans, but he doesn't realize that he pretty much confirmed all of our suspicions. When I pointed all that out, he didn't respond, and that told me that I had guessed everything right. If I had been wrong, he would have said he didn't know what I was talking about. Eggman's gotten better about keeping his plans quiet, but he's not _that _good. In a way he was just as revealing as I was."

There was a low humming sound that made Tails's ear twitch.

"Wow, great work, Tails! This should be easy, as long as we can get past that fake Knuckles. And with the Cyclone, we can attack him before he attacks us!"

"The only problem is…" Tails looked at her sheepishly. "Even if pseudo-Knuckles doesn't know we're here, I have a feeling Eggman does. Thanks to our conversation, I confirmed the truth, but I also kind of gave away our next move."

Amy giggled. "Because we've never had to fight Eggman's robots off before, have we?"

"You know these guys are tougher, Amy."

"Well they're not tougher than us!"

"I think we'll find that out for sure really soon. Like, _really _soon." Tails glanced over his shoulder to see the androids he knew were behind them. "Don't look now, though. Keep your head low in case they have ammo on them or something. When they get close, I'm going to launch a bunch of homing missiles out. They won't even expect it, that way we'll—_ughhh!_"

"_Tails!_" Amy cried as an android came out of nowhere and rammed itself into the side of the Cyclone. As the fox righted the machine's posture, she threw herself over his seat and onto the control panel, smashing the missile launcher with both hands.

"Amy, _no!_"

A dozen missiles fired; far more than they needed to defeat the few androids approaching their machine. The droid that had rammed into them was still clinging to the Cyclone's wing, clawing at the metal like some kind of ravenous animal as it tried to reach the cockpit.

"What do you mean, 'no?' You said you wanted to launch missiles! We have to stop them, Tails!"

The missiles turned in the air, each one locking onto an enemy. "But Amy, one of those missiles is going to hit the one clinging to us right now!"

The hedgehog girl's teal eyes went wide as blind panic gave way to _justified_ panic. "I'm so sorry!"

"Sit tight, I'm going to try and shake him off!"

Before Amy could grasp the sides of her seat, the Cyclone jumped, slammed back down, and jumped again. There was the ear-splitting sound of tortured metal as the android bounced and scraped against it, refusing to let go. Tails whipped the control stick back and forth, sending the Cyclone on a violet series of twists and turns. Amy hit her head on the edge of the cockpit. Her vision closed in on her, leaving her in her own private world of darkness and panic for several seconds.

Somehow, impossibly, the android was still hanging on.

"No…" Tails breathed. "No! I can't get it off!"

With no time to forewarn her of his next actions, he transformed his machine back to its regular plane form and shot forward. It was their only chance, and if the Tornado's speed didn't shake it off, nothing would.

The plane was airborne long before it finished transforming. There was no time to wait. It stumbled and staggered through the forest, ripping through branches on the way. Tails could hear bark and sticks screeching against the metal of the Tornado and the robot. Some of the wooden chaos managed to reach into the cockpit, scratching and piercing his skin like the debris from the explosion the other day.

_I don't have time to tend to this many cuts!_

The android swung its hips aside just as the wings finally jutted out from their positions on the side of the plane. Neither of the chunks of metal took damage.

"_Tails!_"

The fox begun turning to address a hysterical and unsteady Amy, but was suddenly rammed back in his seat by a second android. Its edgy fingers crunched into his upper arms, forcing him to let go of the controls. He had barely gotten the biplane on a straight course, and stray branches still scratched at its exposed underside, the larger ones threatening to smack the machine off course.

All the while, the missiles were still chasing them indifferently…

Tails shifted his weight to his bottom, using the seat as leverage, and pressed both feet into the android's chest hard. It didn't budge, even as he pried at its fingers.

The plane was already beginning to tilt. Oh, if only he could reach the autopilot button…!

But there was no way. It was at least half a foot away, and the android had him pinned so hard its fingertips were piercing the seat material.

"What do you _want?_" Tails cried out, scared and angry."_Do_ something if you're going to attack me!"

That was a risk. A reckless remark on the off chance he could escape when the robot tried to make a move. But he didn't care. If he didn't do _something_, they were going to crash.

And crashing at this height would almost surely be fatal.

The only thing the robot made a move with was its metallic jaw. "A request worthy of respect," it said almost sincerely, "but one I unfortunately can't comply with as much as I would love to. Quit struggling so I can take you to Meka Tower without wearing down my hover mechanism. Keep struggling, however, and all four of us, android and animal alike, will perish."

"Wh-what?"

For a long moment Tails just stared past the robot, not really seeing anything in specific even as the world continued rocking on an angle before him. If they ended up failing, he had expected it to be so much more heart-ripping and drawn out, because of everything that was at stake. Dramatic. But here it was, right before them. Simple and concise. They were either going to be killed or taken to Meka Tower, and that was it. It wasn't the righteous fight he would have expected. It wasn't dramatic. It was just… numbing.

For some irrational reason, Tails's heart ached for the very plane he was sitting in. It was… it was really going to crash? Either way? He loved this plane. And it wasn't even his; it was Sonic's.

Meka Tower or a likely fatal plane crash. The decision was an easy one. They would be rendered useless in Meka Tower. They would be trapped, maybe harmed. No longer able to fight from the outside.

But it was better than being dead. He didn't want to be dead, and he couldn't imagine Amy did either, even if things only got harder from here. At least in Meka Tower, they still had _some _chance, even if it was a small one… And maybe… maybe they could finally see Sonic again.

Tails made himself be still, not out of submission but out of logic. "Okay," he said to the android, quietly but certainly. "Okay, I'll let you. Just don't let us die."

"Us? Who's that?" the android sneered. "I said nothing about your pink tagalong back there. She is of no use to the master."

"_What? _But, but-!"

"That's right. But you, my friend… you are so technologically capable…"

"And I'll _never _use that capability to help _your _master! Consider me useless too!"

"How naïve you are," the robot replied, seemingly unconcerned about the Tornado's increasing unsteadiness. "You think you're strong enough to rebel against us? Get the opinion of your pathetic blue teammate. You don't know what you're getting into, little fox."

Tails had opened his mouth to respond, but suddenly shut it again. What if the android was right? What if he really didn't know what he was getting into? He was still just a kid…

The plane was still tilting. A few more seconds and they would spiral out of control into the stomach of the forest. That was if the missiles didn't catch up to them first.

"The impending crash is approaching quickly," the android said. "Hmmm, _should_ I take you? I'm second-guessing this. According to you, you're not going to help Master Eggman, after all. Hm, maybe it _is _just best to let you die."

As it turned out, the 'impending crash' was Amy's mallet smashing down brutally upon the humanoid's head. It crumpled and collapsed, useless. The girl stumbled over into the side of the plane, still dizzy from hitting her head, and let her heavy weapon fall to the floor. The unnervingly sharp angle of that foothold didn't help her balance either.

Tails was stunned for a frightening instant as his mind finished processing what had just happened, then he sprung forward and grasped for the controls just as the plane arced down into the trees once again, struggling for whatever ounce of stability he could get. The whistle of the speeding missiles followed them relentlessly.

The missiles closed the distance before the ground did, destroying the android still clawing at the side of the Tornado and making a crater on the plane's surface.

They screamed.

Hands still grasping at the controls, Tails tried to right the plane as they tumbled through the air, but their momentum was too great. He only managed to level the stubborn plane enough to keep the impact from snapping their necks. Gravity jerked the machine down on its side and they skidded along the ground until the nearest tree met them with a resounding crash. Dirt and grass went everywhere; a cloud of uprooted nature out of its element.

The forest was quiet once more… oblivious to their struggles as though it had never been disturbed at all.

Amy dragged herself out of the mess first, coughing and crying, clutching her face with one hand. It felt tender, like there was already a bump forming under the fur. "Ow," she whined under her breath, trying to clear her swimming vision. After a moment, it righted itself just enough and she stood up on wobbly legs.

"…Tails!" she cried with sudden realization, running back over to the overturned machine. The fox was motionless, eyes closed, one side of his head pressed hard into the dirt. She got down on her knees and attempted to muscle the Tornado up, but it didn't budge. "Tails!" she said again, shaking him vigorously. "Oh please be okay, Tails…!"

"What's going on over here?"

"Oh—!" Amy gasped, whirring around. Standing a few yards away was a very familiar looking red echidna. "Kn-Knuckles?" she stammered, believing for a moment that he _had _to be genuine. That dark red fur, rippling lightly in the breeze; the violet eyes, too deep and shiny to be fake; the white gloves with spikes sewn precisely to fit the anatomy of his hands…

…But the half-moon mark that usually curled around his chest was a shade too dark.

Had Tails mentioned that detail? She tried to remember. Then she realized the fox probably had not gotten close enough to see it.

"Amy," the echidna said in a perfect replication of Knuckles' masculine voice. "Long time no see. Mind telling me what happened, here?"

"W-we, we crashed," the girl mumbled, then gestured to the pile of plane. "Tails was, Tails was showing me his plane's robot form. It's supposed to be able to fly in the air, but since the wings are shorter, we kind of lost control, and he decided to aim for this island instead of the water."

Good story.

"Uhh… hey…" Tails moaned, finally coming to.

"Tails!" Amy exclaimed. "You scared me! I thought you broke your neck or something!"

"Ugh… ouch. I'm not so sure I didn't. Hey… hey, is that…?"

"Yes it is, Tails. Knuckles has come to help us! Right, Knuckles?" She turned to the echidna expectantly, wondering if he would dare blow his cover to avoid assisting them. She saw the hesitation cross his eyes.

"Err, yeah, of course," he muttered blankly – which, in itself, wasn't unlike Knuckles either. "Here, let me lift that so you can get out, Tails…"

"…Huh?" Tails mumbled.

As the Knuckles fake turned around to address the fallen Tornado, Amy winked behind his back. She prayed Tails caught onto her deception.

"Hey, I'll be right back!" she said suddenly. "I just realized, something important must have fallen out of the plane while we were spiraling out of control… I'm just going to go look over there for it."

The two males ignored her, Tails because he couldn't decide whether he was conscious or not, and the Knuckles fake because he was busy lifting the Tornado to an upright position. Almost frantically, Amy ran off through the trees and towards the Master Emerald, hoping the fox really was all right… and that 'Knuckles' wouldn't make things any worse while she was gone. She could hear the two tossing something of a conversation back and forth as she ran, both of them sounding equally confused. All things considering, it was probably best that they stayed puzzled. As she put more distance between them, their words drowned out in the wind.

With every step she took, she wanted to turn back. This was a _terrible _idea, leaving her friend with someone that she knew could hurt him. But Tails had said they _had _to get the Master Emerald no matter what. This was important.

It felt unnatural to her, gambling lives even if it was for the right reasons. She felt ashamed. Frighteningly uncertain, almost to the point where she was embarrassed in spite of herself. This wasn't right. But it was now or never, and they _needed_ to get the Master Emerald off this island…!

_Gosh… I hope I'm doing the right thing._

The shrine presented itself to her as soon as she broke through the last of the trees. She approached it as fast as her legs would allow, going around to the staircase in front, where Vector and Charmy were.

"Help me!" she demanded before either of them could draw breath to speak. "I've got that fake echidna busy for now. We need to get the Master Emerald away from here before he comes back! If he realizes why I ran off… You must help me."

For a moment, they all held the green gem in their gaze as if it might have the solution they so frantically needed. Then, as if in silent agreement, the three climbed the stairs.

"Where we going with this, Amy?" Vector asked.

"Away. Just… away. We'll go all the way to the opposite end of the island if we have to!"

"Hold it, hold it!" Charmy interrupted. When both Vector and Amy had given him their attention and eye contact, he shrugged and asked, "Why not just throw it off the island all together if this is so important?"

"Amy," Vector said, turning back, "how about we go _that _way?" he pointed off to his right with a thick finger. "There's some more trees over there, but there's a clearing on the other side right near the edge of the island. You guys flew the Tornado, right?"

Amy nodded.

"Right. You could just fly on over there and use the clearing as a landing area. Charmy and I can take the Master Emerald from here, and we'll meet you over there! Sound like a plan?"

"It would," Amy said, "if I hadn't just caused the Tornado to take damage."

"What'd you do to it?" Charmy asked.

"I was… I was just trying to help. I launched homing missiles at these Eggman Corp. robots that were attacking us. But one of them was grabbing the side of the plane, so when the missile homed in on it, it homed in on us too."

"Are you sure it won't fly? Maybe it just got knocked for a loop, is all."

"I… you know, maybe you're right!" Amy said suddenly. "That plane has taken loads of damage before. It shouldn't be down for the count just after one incident! Maybe it'll still work!"

_Now the question is if the pilot is down for the count._

"Well, you go find out," Vector told her, and for a second she forgot he was referring to the plane. "We'll be ready over there if you need us. Use your communicator if anything changes. If worse comes to worse, Charmy can fly this thing down to ground."

"_Hey!_" the child said indignantly. "I didn't volunteer for that!"

"You'll do what I tell ya," Vector said, "or you won't get any of the pay cut!"

"Hmph."

"Thanks so much, you guys!" Amy said. "But… are you two going to get in trouble over this? I mean, when that echidna comes back…"

"Pff. Don't you worry about us, Amy. We're on _your _side. As soon as the Master Emerald is safe, we can blow this joint too!"

"We'll take you back on the Tornado, if it still works," Amy said.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. _Go! _We can figure the rest of this out later."

xxx

When Amy returned to the Tornado several minutes later, it was upright, and Tails was on his feet. Scraps of metal from the obliterated androids littered the ground. She realized she hadn't worked the debris into her contrived story. Fortunately, the Knuckles imposter hadn't appeared to notice. Even if he had, she reasoned he probably just thought the metal had come from the Tornado.

Stepping around the mess, Amy approached her two-tailed friend.

"Tails, I thought you got hurt for a minute there. Are you okay now?"

"Yeah. A little dizzy right now, but I'll be fine. Doesn't take much to make me dizzy, anyway, apparently…"

"You have a huge scrape on your head. Promise me you'll put some ice to it when we get back."

Tails chuckled, looking away awkwardly. "Uh, yeah, I will. That's probably a good idea. Man, I'm not used to getting hurt all the time." He smiled a little in good humor despite his injury. "Guess I'm taking on Sonic's usual role while he's gone, huh?"

"He does get hurt a lot," Amy said. "Do you have any first-aid stuff in the Tornado? I think we should at least wrap that up a little since it's bleeding." Without waiting for an answer, she explored one of the plane's compartments and found what she was looking for. "Here, hold still," she commanded, holding out a strand of bandage up to his head. The injury was on one side of his head, so she wrapped the bandage in an oval, using his ear as a pillar to keep it in place. "You okay?"

"Ah, yeah, I think I'm fine. _You_ okay?

"Mm-hmm. I'm not bleeding like you are, though. Hey – where's fake Knuckles?"

"Oh," Tails said as Amy tied up the bandage. He reached up and gently massaged the sore area. "Uh, he started heading back to the Master Emerald already. I'm surprised you didn't run into him. Why, what's—"

"Does this thing work?" the hedgehog interrupted, voice raising in alarm.

"The Tornado? Yup, it works just fine. Scratched the paint a little, but…"

Amy grabbed his arm and all but threw him into the cockpit. "Let's _go!_ Vector and Charmy are waiting for us with the Master Emerald! We have to get it and get off this island before pseudo-Knuckles finds out! I didn't realize he was already heading back…"

"But… but he helped me," the fox said absently.

"Tails, how hard did you hit your head? He only helped you because I told him to and he didn't want to blow his cover!"

"Hey, take it easy, Amy. You're the one who helped that E-series robot that one time, even though it was trying to hurt Sonic."

"True," the girl conceded. "But I knew he was good inside. Fake Knuckles, though? I wish I could see good in him too, but right now we have to do what we have to do, right? We _can't _let Eggman have any more battles!"

"You're right," Tails said. "Well, let's go get that Emerald, then! Hope I'm okay to fly this thing!"

Amy quickly clicked her seatbelt and double-checked the underside of the seat. For all the things that had gone wrong, the one thing that was certainly right was that their two Chaos Emeralds were still down there. Thank Chaos.

"See, told you it would fly!" Tails said proudly once they were in the air. "I keep this thing in good enough shape to take a hit every now and then. So where to?"

"A bit higher and I think I'll be able to see it… there! The edge of the island over there. See where the trees stop? I think Vector and Charmy are just out of view."

"That's not far."

"I know, but we figured it was a good spot for you to land and take off quickly. That's why we have to hurry, though. That fake guardian will find us in no time if he knows this island anything like the real Knuckles does."

"Okay, we're on our way back down, then. You and I will just stay in the Tornado, and Vector and Charmy can get the Master Emerald in here."

"Can this plane hold all four of us and the Master Emerald?"

"It'll be, er, cozy," he said, "but it'll be able to handle the weight."

"Okay. Hey, I see them! Land down there, Tails!"

"Right, I see them too." He dropped the plane sharply, finishing its descent, and curved out smoothly just before hitting the ground. Smiling, he let out a low whistle. "Couldn't ask for a more perfect landing spot! Okay, everyone, let's get going!"

"You got it, Tails!" Vector said, hoisting the vibrant gem into the Tornado. Amy scooted over so that it could fit between the two seats. The two Chaotix members climbed in on the gem's other side. All three of them rested their hands on it, ensuring its security.

"Ready, all?" Tails asked.

"Go, go, go!" Charmy shouted. "Before what's-his-face gets here!"

"Okay, okay!" Tails smiled and accelerated the plane, arcing it off the island long before the guardian imposter reached the spot where they had been. No androids attacked them and no missiles chased them. Over and over, the realization struck him: they had done it. They had finally retrieved the Master Emerald.

Independence aside, he couldn't help but think to himself that Sonic would be proud.

xxx

_"Okay, Eggman! Bring it on!" –Tails, Sonic Adventure_

xxx

_In chapter 17: Tails, the new temporary guardian of the Master Emerald, puts everything he has into keeping it safe. And Eggman tapping into his communications is the least of the surprises he will face…_

xxx

Thanks for reading, and as always, I'd love to hear whatcha think!

Next chapter's a pretty even balance of both Sonic scenes and Tails scenes, despite the preview. Then lotsa Sonic in the next few after that. ;)

FFN been weird for anyone else lately? Couldn't log in for a bit a few days ago, and a lot of peoples' review count displays differently when looking at the story summary than it does when on the actual story page. Oh, and word count alters dramatically if you edit and save a document in FFN's document manager. Like, changes by several hundred words. O.o Though actually I think that's been doing that for a while. Time to fix some bugs, FFN.


	18. Chapter 17: Melt Away

SnowWolfWarriorKrysta: Thanks a lot for your comments so far! It sucks about not being able to use PM, but from here on out I will just reply to your reviews here like I do with anonymous reviews. Anyway, I appreciate it, and I hope you continue to enjoy this story! :)

Dare: Ah, sorry to sound utterly clueless, but… what? XD

The Meddler: I am… oddly unoffended by that. XD I used to do that with a lot of stories that were done like this, then started to get the feeling that I was missing something (imagine that) and had to go back and read them anyway. Their half of things definitely is relevant, though I can see why it might have seemed otherwise at first. The two sides of this adventure become more and more interwoven as the story goes on. :) Thanks for commenting, and glad to hear it!

…Hey guys! So, lots of people found it surprising that Tails and Amy didn't face more resistance in actually taking the Master Emerald. I'm aware of that and can really only say this: nothing happens – or _doesn't _happen – without reason. Though as with quite a few little things in this story, it may not come into full context until later.

Oh, and before I forget, the first three stories of the Undestined Future series are gonna be reworked. I'm going to spend a lot of time with them in the coming months, and hopefully sooner rather than later, start posting versions of those stories that are up to par with where I'm at now, compared to where I was then. Not that I'm expecting the whole world to read 'em all again or anything, it's just something I feel like I need to do, and so I figured I'd letcha know. Getting to it quicker than I would have before, thanks to RedFire giving me a push (whether you intended to or not! :P).

Anyway… :)

CHAPTER 17: MELT AWAY

xxx

First-person perspective

xxx

"Hey Sonic," Lucas said in a hushed whisper. I didn't like the way his voice sounded. "Who's to say for sure what Eggman would do if he found out the truth?"

Sonic was wandering back and forth idly, munching on an apple that had come with the day's lunch. "The truth? You mean me lying about the Chaos Emerald not working?"

As he asked, the implications of that fact hit me once again: nobody knew. Except for us and I wasn't even supposed to. On one hand, that was of utmost importance, because everyone – including us – were safer if less people knew. But at the same time, it was obvious it hurt Sonic to let them believe he had given up. Sonic didn't really need other peoples' approval to be able to feel it for himself, but just knowing how pessimistic they were – and knowing it was _because _they thought he had given up – was bothering him. He didn't want to be the source of that kind of sadness and hopelessness. He didn't want there to _be _that kind of sadness and hopelessness.

There was nothing he could do about it. Nothing any of us could do about it. Maybe they thought less of him, maybe he would never receive the same comradeship from them that he had before. But he had done what he had to do. Even if they would never know it.

"Yeah," Lucas replied. "I know we talked about this already and decided how _you and I _would handle it, but there's something we didn't consider. I mean, I doubt he'd find out at all… you're a damn good faker. But…"

"Faker," Sonic muttered ironically. "Never thought I'd appreciate being called that."

I wondered what he meant by that, but Lucas went on obliviously. "Thing is, what if he tried this sick fear test on another prisoner?"

"They don't know how to use Chaos energy," Sonic said simply, smiling a little as though he had been prepared to answer that question at some point. "Even if a lot of them have an innate ability to, most of them don't even _know _it. Eggman wouldn't do that knowing that pretty much no one has even tried to use a Chaos Emerald before. They wouldn't know what to do with it, not yet anyway. It's so uncertain that he wouldn't even be able to trust the upshot. I'm probably the only one here who he _knows _can use Chaos energy, so I was his best chance, at least for the time being."

Lucas just stared at him. "…I thought you didn't plan things out like that."

"That was hindsight, not foresight. Are you going to say that every time I _think?_"

"Sonic," came another voice. "_Sonic_."

Though he was the only one who had been addressed, I took pause with him. That voice didn't belong to anyone I had heard here before. And as far as I could tell, it had no source. It was daytime and all the lights were on, and I was looking right at the spot the voice had come from, yet there was no person there to account for it. Sonic looked just as baffled as I felt.

"Oh, I get it," the hedgehog said after a moment, and visibly relaxed. "Espio…?"

"Yes, it's me," replied the voice. "There are a lot of androids up here, and I don't think it's wise for me to show myself right now."

"Gotta agree with you there," Sonic mumbled through another bite of apple. "But what are you doing here?"

"Anything and everything that I can. I was beginning to wonder if I would ever find you, Sonic. I've been in here for several days now. How much further up does this place go?"

"This is it. Top floor material right here!"

"You're stuck in a freaking jail, Sonic," Lucas muttered from the other cell, not getting up from where he was sitting. "Hardly anything to brag about, top floor or not."

"Oh stop, you know you're proud of it too." Wink. "We're the best of the best, after all."

"Yeah, yeah. Still, I doubt your friend there is too impressed."

Sonic opened his mouth to make another remark, but Espio – whoever that was – began speaking first. "I see you haven't changed much, Sonic."

"Aw, am I that predictable?"

I heard the invisible voice sigh. "Though I'm surprised to find myself saying this, it's nice to see you again. It's been a long time."

"You said it!" Sonic finished his apple and threw the core through the bars, apparently not too concerned about littering on Eggman's property. It flew a few inches clear of Espio's head and rolled across the hallway floor. "Man, I could eat like fifteen of these. Starting to get thinner here. You'd think someone like Eggman would understand the value of eating a substantial meal, y' know?" Lucas and Espio both nodded. "Anyway, any chance you can get us out of this joint?"

"I'm working on it," Espio said. "I've got quite a bit of work to do to figure out how to unlock the cells. Androids are everywhere, so it will likely take me a while, since I have to be cautious. In the meantime, borrow my communicator, since you managed to lose yours. I'll need it back later, but right now there's a certain someone who would love to hear from you."

xxx

"This is the spot," Tails announced.

Amy swiped gnats away from her face and peered into the narrow cave Tails was gesturing to. "Uh, impressive."

"It's nothing special," the fox said, leaning on a dry tree, "but that's why I think no one will find it. Plus, it's far enough away from the action that even _my _radar shouldn't be able to pick up its signal. Helps that it slopes downward a little, too."

"So you brought up all the materials to set up the password door, right?"

"Of course! I should only be an hour or two. Mind helping me carry the Master Emerald in there? I don't think I can get it myself with all these materials under my other arm."

"Anything to get away from all these bugs," Amy said. "They're enough to keep _me _away from this place, anyway!"

"Wow, it seems even narrower on the inside," Tails said as they ventured into the cave. The Master Emerald rested on their shoulders, lighting the way.

"It's surprising how light this thing is," Amy commented. "I'd have expected it to be really heavy. Whenever Knuckles lifts it he makes it look like it's some big feat."

"Knuckles," Tails said simply, rolling his eyes. "But I think the Master Emerald is light because it sustains itself. Like the Chaos Emeralds. Its own power makes it hover in the air, just a few inches above the shrine, when it's still. Remember?"

"That's true," the girl said. "It'd explain why people like Rouge can steal it so easily, that's for sure."

"Yeah. I mean, I'm sure Knuckles _could _lift something as heavy as this emerald looks with no problem, but…" he trailed off and shrugged, figuring the thought was finished enough to get the point across. They kept pushing through the cave in silence, Master Emerald in tow.

"There was something else I wanted to mention," Amy whispered a few minutes later, not looking at him.

"What's that?"

"I'm… really sorry for freaking out earlier. I shouldn't have pressed that button on the Tornado." She gulped. "You'd have known what you were doing. You're used to situations like that, and… and I just made everything so much worse. I nearly got us killed."

Tails laughed good-naturedly, glancing over at the pink hedgehog he had gotten to know so much better over the weeks. "Join the club, Amy."

"What?"

"We've _all _nearly gotten each other killed at some point, honestly. It just happens when you do things like this enough. But we're okay, the Tornado's okay, and the Master Emerald's okay. So don't worry about it. Just leave the plane's controls to me in the future, okay?"

She laughed sheepishly. "Okay. Uh, Tails? How far are we going, anyway?"

"Oh, not too far, it just looks that way because it's so small and dark. The Tornado would just barely fit through here, and only if it was in its Cyclone form. It's probably a good thing we're walking." He looked at Amy. "I know it's kind of uncomfortable. Once we get to where I'm going to set up the door, you can head back out if you want."

"Yeah, I think I will. It's really tight in here and it's not like I can help anyway once we get the Master Emerald to where we're going. I'll wait with the Tornado."

"Actually, that's a good idea," Tails realized aloud. "I mean, for all we know, there could have been more robots on Angel Island. Not to mention pseudo-Knuckles. And Eggman too, since he knew we were most likely going there… Wow. It's highly likely that at least one of them followed us or traced us. _Would _you mind keeping watch?"

"Sure thing!" the hedgehog said, glad to know her excuse was in fact a legitimate reason. "I'll keep an eye on the two Chaos Emeralds, too, and warn you if anything happens. Hey, it's getting brighter in here! What's that up ahead?"

"Keep going," Tails said. "We're almost there. Watch your step up here."

They squeezed through the last portion of the constricted path, treading carefully over a bumpy area on the ground. The cave expanded like a funnel, and the expanse before them was filled with majestic colored crystals and stalactites. The fox's words from seconds ago reached the far end of the place and echoed off the wall.

"Wow," Amy breathed. "Now this area of the cave is beautiful! Perfect for the Master Emerald! And for that matter, perfect for a date. Sonic is totally coming here with me sometime!"

"It is pretty," Tails conceded. "I doubt Sonic's going to want to be dragged through a narrow place like this anytime soon, though."

The girl slumped down a little.

"Hey, did I say something wrong?" the fox asked her.

"No… I just forgot for a second that Sonic couldn't come here with me right now even if he wanted to."

"We'll just have to fix that, I guess."

"Yes. I know we will, but I'm so sick of playing this waiting game."

"Me too, Amy. Me too."

"Well," she sighed, trying a smile, "time for me to head back out there, right? I'll let you build your door."

"Okay. I shouldn't be too long."

"No problem, Tails," the girl said, and began making her way out of the cave.

Tails spread his materials and tools on a flat area of ground. The Master Emerald's glow reflected off crystals all over the place, lighting the room more than he had expected. Letting out a content breath, the fox began working, absorbing himself in his element.

Some twenty minutes later, his communicator spewed out a fit of static. He glanced down at his wrist, but the Master Emerald's vibrant glow cast a blinding reflection on the display screen. "Amy?" he asked.

"Heh, try again, buddy!"

Cerulean eyes went wide as those words and that familiar voice touched his eardrums. He tried to say something but his voice got stuck somewhere deep in his chest. _Sonic…?_

"Tails, you there? How's it going?"

At the sound of his best friend's voice, Tails's doubts and dreads melted away as if they had never been there at all. That was all it took. He wondered if there had been an error in communication somewhere along the line; nothing about Sonic's tone indicated anything out of the ordinary. Surely, he was still off exploring for Chaos Emeralds somewhere, and had never been in that perilous tower at all…?

"It's… great," the fox replied quietly. "I'm s-so happy to hear from you."

"It's nice to hear from you, too! Sorry I haven't been in touch. See, my communicator kind of got…"

"Destroyed by an android, before you were taken to Meka Tower," Tails finished. "I found it."

"The communicator?"

"Yeah."

"Hey, are you okay? You sound kind of down."

Tails was the opposite, if anything, but he couldn't make his vocal chords function properly. "I'm f-fine, Sonic," he said. "I'm… I'm better than fine, actually. I was just really scared for you. Oh Sonic, I was so scared."

"Oh, come on now."

"Well, you've been gone for so long!" Tails gave up on trying to keep his tone steady and let his emotions fill in where the quietness had been. Suddenly it was a lot easier to talk. "I haven't heard from you in over two _months!_" he cried."Even if you're out exploring or whatever, you almost always contact me every now and then. I knew from the second _week _that something was up… but two _months?_"

"Aw, buddy. I'm sorry."

"It's… it's not your fault!" Tails stammered. "If anything, it's mine. I… I should have done something sooner. I kept trying to tell myself you'd be back soon, even when I knew you wouldn't be."

"Hey, I'm the one who got myself stuck here to begin with. I think this screw-up is pinned on me."

"No, it's not. You were just trying to stop Eggman, like you should have!"

"Well then, let's throw all the self-blame to the wind, okay? We can't change anything now anyway."

"Yeah… yeah. You're right."

"So, fill me in! What have I been missing out on?"

"A _ton,_" Tails said, tone regaining some enthusiasm. He wiped his watering eyes and sat down against a slab of granite, work happily abandoned for the time being. "I don't even know where to begin."

"Well, for starters, did you find anymore Chaos Emeralds?"

"Yeah, I did find another one! I fought some Robotnik Corporation androids to get it, too! Well, not exactly fought. I kind of ran away, but I had to do what was best for the Chaos Emerald, you know?"

"I don't blame you," Sonic said. "Great job. The more of those we can get, the better."

"Oh, oh wait! Then I ran the androids over with the Tornado! Hehe, I forgot about that part."

"Better yet!"

"Also, we found out that Knuckles is trapped in there somewhere too."

"Yeah, I was wondering about that. You should probably keep an eye on the Master Emerald since he's not around to guard it himself."

"I'm sitting next to it right now," the fox said proudly, smiling at the gem like he might ask it to introduce itself and say hi. "Totally beat you to that one, Sonic. I'm not as fast as you, but I'm not _that _slow."

"Wait, you're on Angel Island, then?"

"No. There was a Knuckles robot, or impersonator, or… _something_ on Angel Island. He was working for Eggman. We were meant to think it was Knuckles."

"If Egghead wanted the Master Emerald, why not just take it?"

Tails hesitated. "Good question. Well, actually, he's been a lot more inconspicuous about things lately. So maybe he just wanted things to keep looking like they were okay. If he just went in and took the Master Emerald, it wouldn't take long for all of us to notice something was up. But since he had a Knuckles lookalike there guarding it, it didn't raise any suspicion until much later."

"Thinking like a criminal, now, are you?"

"Just being observant. Eggman's gotten smarter, but it still doesn't take _that _long to catch onto his tactics."

"Easy for you to say," the hedgehog retorted.

"Hm?"

"Ah, nothin'. So if you're not on Angel Island, where are you?"

"I'm—" Tails broke off.

"Sorry bro, didn't catch that."

"That's because I didn't say anything. It's just that… I probably shouldn't say my location via com-link. Eggman and I tapped into each other's connections the other day accidentally. For all I know, he could be listening in on us right now."

"Good thinking."

"Man… should we even keep talking, Sonic? What if he _is _listening?"

"I'm willing to bet Eggman knows most of what you've said so far without being told… and if you _are _listening, Eggman, don't let that get to your head!"

Tails chuckled.

"So, what else?"

"That's all the big stuff, really. Evading androids is how I've been spending most of my time lately. The Chaotix have helped loads, and Amy too. What about you? What's been going on over there?"

"Eh, nothing too interesting."

"Oh, please," Tails said, knowing otherwise but deciding to keep the conversation light for the moment. "What'd you do to _make _it interesting, then?"

"That's the question I was waiting for. Well, let's see. There's these scanner things that Eggman's using to try and find out why certain people can use Chaos Emeralds. Long story short, he wants to make an army out of everyone he's captured, and control them with Chaos energy. Things is, people have to be receptive to it in order for that to work. I guess not everyone is capable of using it. But anyway, I destroyed one of the scanner things, so that'll slow him down. My pal Lucas in the cell next to me has been helping out a lot, too."

"…Understatement," said a voice that Tails assumed to be Lucas's.

"Yeesh, I can only add to that as fast as I can _talk!_" Sonic said. "I was _going _to go on to say everything you'd done to help, but maybe I'll just leave it at that, now."

"Uh, Sonic?"

"Yeah. Sorry, pal. Was talking to Lucas."

"Sounds like you two get along great," Tails laughed. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he was still wondering about what Espio had told him. Sonic didn't seem to consider it worth a mention, but the fox couldn't tell if that was due to a genuine lack of care, or due to reluctance.

_Well, I might as well ask._

"Hey Sonic," Tails said quietly. "Can I ask you about something?"

"You're asking me if you can _ask _something? A bit redundant, don't you think?" Sonic didn't wait for an answer. "What's up, then, bud?"

"I was just wondering… what really happened last week. If you want to tell me, that is." Tails pulled his knees up to his chest, still leaning back against the rock. "I mean, I really just want to get things cleared up. I… I don't quite get it."

For the first time in their conversation, the fox received a response of silence.

xxx

"Espio," Sonic said confidentially.

"Yes?"

"…You were in here when that happened?" He waited. Espio nodded. "You told him?"

"He asked."

"Espio… he didn't need to know about that part."

"Just because he is young doesn't mean he shouldn't know. In fact, he is more mature than you sometimes."

Sonic gave the detective a look. It surprised him. He had seen the hedgehog angry or disappointed before, but it took a lot to get him there, and was an expression he turned on a friend even less than he turned it on an enemy. "Age has nothing to do with it. No matter how old he is or how mature he is, he's still my little bro."

Espio met those green eyes with a solemn expression of his own. "You seem to want to use that as a justification for keeping something from him, when it works better as a justification to _not _keep something from him." He paused. "But if you insist, I'm sorry. Perhaps it wasn't my piece to tell."

The hedgehog nodded acceptance of the apology. He still looked slightly irritated, but the arch of his eyebrows softened significantly; something in Espio's words had struck a chord. "Maybe you're right," he said quietly.

xxx

"Sonic?" Tails asked tentatively.

"Yeah, bro?"

The fox hesitated. "…Let me in."

The words were simple in nature, but there were a million emotions and sentiments behind them that touched Sonic to the core. "Hey," he said gently. "You know what, I've got nothing to hide from you, Tails. If you want the truth, I'd rather just forget that whole thing even happened."

Tails was struck quiet for an instant. Somehow, hearing Sonic acknowledge it aloud fully confirmed its truth. For over a week now, he'd been left only with the mental image, and Espio's chilling description. Now he was talking to his best friend – the person who had actually experienced it – and the images and descriptions became something palpable. Real. Until that moment, it just seemed impossible that something so dreadful could even occur. "Are you… are you okay?"

"Chaos, _yes_," the hedgehog replied, laughter in his tone. "If I had a ring for every time someone asked me that…"

Lucas's voice came through from the background. "Hey Tails. Can you hear me from here?"

Tails brought the communicator closer to his ear. "Uh, yeah, I can hear you fine."

"Sonic's fine, seriously. I asked him enough for everyone. I mean, we're all still bored out of our minds, but it's okay. There hasn't been any danger since then, so he's not just saying it to make you feel better or anything."

Tails smiled. "If Sonic says everything's okay now, then I believe him. But thanks!"

"Gotta love it when people talk about you like you're not there," Sonic chimed back in. "At least it's something a little more tasteful than the other night." Tails thought he could hear a peculiar significance in the hedgehog's voice, as if he had directed that at someone other than him.

"Sorry if you didn't want me to bring that up," Tails said. "It's just that Espio was really, erm, hasty. I didn't know if you were safe right now, or if Eggman was around still… especially the way Eggman talked about you when we spoke through the com-link. And, I mean, I'd guess that something like that can, y' know, cause damage. So I just wanted to make sure everything was cool now, and you weren't hurt." Tails gulped. "It's just a good thing you're alive, you know."

"No kidding," the hedgehog said. "Happy to be here. Well, not happy to be _here_, exactly, but you know what I mean."

The two friends were silent for a moment, but neither lowered their respective communicators. Both could feel in the atmosphere that there was more to be said. Tails didn't know what it was until he drew in a nervous breath and heard the words come out of his own mouth.

"Are you scared?"

The question lingered in the air, its significance filling the silence that followed. Moments passed. Sonic realized that his friend was not seeking a bravado reassurance here; he was beyond that phase. He was looking for ground that they shared, looking for a way to relate… And he was looking for honesty.

Knees pulled up to his chest and namesakes wrapped comfortingly around his body, Tails stared at the communicator, where 'SONIC' was written across the screen in blue digital letters. For a lengthy moment he just sat there and listened to the quiet coming from the other end. Then:

"Yeah," the blue blur said simply. "Yeah, Tails, I am. But sometimes that's okay. Being afraid doesn't mean we have to stop doing what we're doing, y' know? If anything it means we try harder, so we can put an end to this."

Goosebumps tingled gently up the backs of Tails's arms as he listened to his friend's words, a level of sincerity and exposure in that voice that even the fox rarely heard from him. "We'll get you out of there, Sonic," he said softly. "I promise."

"Don't you start that now. I can… I can do this. Besides, we'll work from inside Meka Tower like we have been. Try to shake the place apart a little, y' know. So worry about me later. Just do what you gotta do to protect the Master Emerald."

Tails smiled, realizing those words were every bit as genuine as the fear his friend had confessed to. "We are, Sonic."

"We?" Sonic asked. "Someone's with you?"

"Yeah! Amy came along to help me out."

"Oh yeah?"

Something caught Tails's eye. He looked up to see said pink hedgehog heading towards him quickly. "Is that who I think it is?" she demanded loudly, her expression a perfect compromise between anxiety and joy.

"Uh-oh, I shouldn't have asked," Sonic joked through the com-link. "Sounds like she still has Sonic radar… or whatever."

"Amy, how long have you been listening?" Tails asked.

"Just now! I just… you've been back here for a while, and I swore I heard you talking, so I came to see. Is that…?"

"So how's she doing, then?" Sonic asked through the communicator.

"Hey! _He asked about me!_" Amy shouted, virtually tearing the thing off Tails's wrist. Taking full possession of it, she strapped it on. "Sonic… it's been so long!"

"It has been a while, hasn't it?"

"I miss you so much! We're going to get you out of there somehow, Sonic! You can count on us!"

"Hey, I'm okay, I'm okay!" Sonic assured her, sounding amused. "I can take care of myself for now. I know you two are up to something important, too."

"You're _more _important, Sonic!"

Sonic chuckled self-consciously. "Eh, thanks, but really, this isn't about me. It can't be right now, as much as I want to get out of here. Stopping Eggman is the best thing we can do right now… and a _huge _part of it is keeping him from getting what he's after. The Master Emerald needs protection, after all. Think you can help do that for me, Amy?"

"Sonic…" Amy's voice softened, losing its forcefulness but not its enthusiasm. "If that's what you want, of course I will. I'll do whatever it takes to make everything right again."

"Great to hear, Amy. Thank you."

"You hang in there, Sonic!" she said. "We'll get through all this together!"

"I will, and count on it. You hang in there, too. Stick with Tails, so neither of you are alone, okay?"

"Absolutely. We've been doing that all along, anyway."

"Sweet. Well, I guess I should let you go so I don't use up all of Espio's battery. Plus, you've got things to do, am I right?"

"Right!" Amy said. "I'm so happy right now, Sonic! This is all going to be so much more fun now!"

"Amy, can I have my communicator back now?" Tails asked with a timid smile.

"Oh… yeah, sorry about that. I… I guess I got a little excited, didn't I?" She turned towards him again, face glowing as bright as the Master Emerald, and returned the device.

"Sonic." Tails strapped the device back around his wrist. "I know Espio's busy in there, so we might not get a chance to talk again soon."

"Well, we didn't even know we'd get to talk _once, _did we? This is better than nothing, buddy!"

"Definitely better than nothing! I can't wait to see you again, though. There's so many other random things to talk about, when the time is appropriate, I mean."

"That'll give us something to look forward to, then!"

"Mm-hmm! Well, good luck in there, Sonic." The fox paused, his own words bringing forth the memory of his conversation with Eggman. _I'd be wishing Sonic luck if I were you. _Refusing to let that memory have any negative impact on his rendezvous with Sonic now, he forced the thought to the background. "I'll see you later… right?"

"You betcha. We're gonna be just fine, bro, okay?" Tails nodded as though Sonic was right there with him and could see it. Sonic kept talking as though that was just the case. "Keep it up!"

"I will, Sonic; you too! And… I'll be with ya in spirit, okay? Until we can see each other again?"

"Heh, yeah Tails, that sounds awesome," the hedgehog said softly, genuinely appreciative of the thought. Tails. A little bit of that world outside – his best friend – right there with him. There was nothing he wouldn't do for that fox. "Right back atcha."

Said fox smiled. "You really _are_ okay, aren't you?"

"Would I lie to ya? If you guys are all right then I am too."

"Aw, Sonic. You're awesome. It's just…" Tails sighed, still smiling, but the expression was more hopeful and wistful now than anything. "I hate the time that'll be in between now and the next time we get to talk, or see each other. I miss ya. And it's… kind of hard _not knowing _what's going on in there…" he gulped, then continued, not scooting around the subject, "and not knowing what might happen to you. I know you'll hate hearing this, but please, _please _be careful, will you?"

"How could I hate hearing something like that from you, bro? We've got to try and stop Eggman – you know that – but I'll do my best to, y' know, be careful and stuff in the process."

"I… I hope that's enough. I feel a lot better now that we've talked, but I'm still kinda scared too, Sonic. What if…"

"If 'what if' happens again for whatever reason, then that'll just be one heck of a lousy day, won't it?" Sonic remarked. "But right now anyway, Eggster doesn't have a reason to, because he doesn't th—"

"Sonic," Tails interrupted in a warning voice, cutting him off. "Why don't we have this conversation when it doesn't have to be via communicators… if you know what I mean."

"Oh. Thanks. Almost forgot for a second there."

Tails sighed. "You don't know _how _to be careful, do you?"

"Dude, no worries. I've got some ideas what to do about all this anyway. Just trust me. And I'll trust you too. We're going to find a way to make everything cool again, for both of us and for everyone else."

"I trust you," the fox said immediately, almost defensively like he was surprised Sonic thought he didn't. "And yeah, we'll fix this all. I've got to trust that too. The hard part was… well, like I said before. Never knowing what's going on inside the tower. But that's your part, Sonic, I get it. So you don't have to say it. It's your part and… and you're gonna take care of it. And I'm gonna take care of mine."

"Preach it, buddy."

"So then… we've got our work cut out for us." Finally Tails relaxed. Sonic knew what he was doing. "And we've been about to say bye for half of this conversation now. I guess that means we actually should this time, huh?"

"Yeah, bud. Espio's communicator is the only thing we have in here to keep in touch with you, so we shouldn't use it too much."

"Right. But either way, it's not really bye. We're in this together now."

"We always were, bro," Sonic said softly, happily. "We always were."

"Until next time, Sonic!"

"Next time, pal. Sayonara."

Tails's communicator went silent. He turned back to Amy who was standing nearby, her ears still raised intently. For a long moment, the two of them just stood in the cave, surrounded by the beauty of the crystals and the Master Emerald. If the place had felt majestic before, it somehow seemed even more incredible now. They basked in the calm silence, immersing themselves in the joy that talking to Sonic again had brought.

Then they threw their arms around each other, cheering and laughing like nothing else in the world mattered.

xxx

"Wow, I miss that kid." Sonic turned to Lucas, who was watching him from the window. "And you know, talking to him kind of reminds me that there's still a world outside of this place. I can't wait to actually be a _part _of it again."

"How old are they?" Lucas asked. "Those two sounded pretty young to be caught up in all this."

"They kind of are," Sonic admitted, "but it's always been this way. Tails is eight, Amy's twelve."

"That's it? They make me feel old. I'm twenty-two." The man suddenly looked at him. "How old are _you_, Sonic?"

"Fifteen."

"What? You are not!" Lucas stared at him openly now. "…Are you kidding?"

Sonic shrugged. "Is that okay?"

"I just… you struck me as seventeen or eighteen, at least. Something closer to my age. You're, like, really young for all this."

"Really. What age is an appropriate one for 'all this,' then?"

"Sorry. I didn't really mean it like that, I'm just surprised. Especially about Tails and Amy. But I guess you guys have enough experience being on your own and fighting Eggman that age doesn't really matter anymore."

"That's how I see it," the hedgehog said cheerily.

"For him being a kid, it seems like Tails worries about you more than you worry about him."

The hedgehog shrugged again. "Neither of us have much reason to worry now that we've talked, do we?"

"No, I guess not. I'm just saying."

Sonic shrugged. "Well, maybe I should worry more in the future. It'll help him out, after all."

"Smartass."

"Takes one to know one."

"Original comeback."

"Hah, you're one to talk! At—"

"_Another _original comeback. You're killing me here."

"At least it's better than the whole negative numbers of people thing you spewed out before.'"

Lucas cringed. "I'll grant you that much. That was one of my poorer arguments." He paused, meeting Sonic's eyes. "Were you _planning_ on using that against me?"

"Who, _me_?" Sonic grinned and shook his head. "You know what, I'm not even gonna say it."

xxx

"_Do I need a reason to want to help out a friend?" –Sonic, Sonic Unleashed_

xxx

As Sonic and Tails said – until next time! Please review!


	19. Chapter 18: Sink or Swim part 1

EDIT: Freaking FFN glitches. -.-; Always cuts out the second punctuation when I have both an exclamation and a question mark next to each other.

Hey guys. :) Hopping online real quick to stick this up. Decided not to wait 'til the new year after all, it's close enough. Next three chapters are Sonic ones, though I have not forgotten about everyone else. :) We're gonna see how Knux is faring after that, and then more of the others a bit later. This chapter originally got quite long so I finally decided to split it, which is a lot of the reason I didn't update as fast as normal. It was right before Christmas and I didn't really want this part and the next split up by the holiday.

In spirit, this one and the next are really the same chapter. Normally I won't divide up a scene if I didn't originally intend it that way, but there was another bit I wanted to work into this chapter, so I feel it's for the better. Plus there actually was a break in the chapter that provided a good opportunity to end it. (Though 'good' is arguable. XP) This one's the shorter of the two parts, and shorter than most of these chapters lately, so bear with me.

Anyway, ah, "Time for a change of pace!" as the mad doctor himself would say.

But obnoxious game references aside, here is the next chapter. Enjoy.

CHAPTER 18: SINK OR SWIM; PARALYSIS

_ Those emerald eyes were looking across to him with an expression he couldn't quite read. He wanted to turn away, wrap his mind around what the last two minutes had brought, but couldn't do that either. Adrenaline pulsed through his nerves and veins as he stood there paralyzed by his own indecision and disbelief._

_ All of this brought about by a chao, no less._

_ The next thought that crossed Lucas's mind, though, was the one thing he _wasn't _indecisive about. It wasn't a desperate, wishful thought; it was one of complete faith. A simple fact in the face of enormous complication and chaos._

_ 'It's not over yet.'_

xxx

"Thank you, Espio."

The chameleon slowed slightly upon hearing Tails's words, then realized his legs were aching from his continuous sneaking about and stopped all together, letting himself get a breath. He didn't see any androids around but camouflaged just in case. "Thank me? For what?"

"You found Sonic," Tails replied happily. "It means the world to me. I know it seems like I've just been focused on him this whole time, but honestly, I think I'll be able focus a lot more on everything else now."

"You were concerned, and with good reason," Espio said. "There's no need to justify yourself."

"I guess not, but I figured I should say that anyway. I really, _really _want to fight this fight, because Eggman's gotta be stopped, and not just because Sonic's in danger. So I want to help stop him, and keep an eye out for _all _my friends. Espio, you've become pretty special to me too. I just want you to know that."

For a second the detective was oddly uncertain how to respond. "It's appreciated, Tails," he said quietly. "You're a good comrade. I have a feeling neither of us would have been as successful as we've been without the other." He paused briefly, though wasn't uncomfortable in the midst of the resulting silence. Tails, on the other end, sensed he had more to say and waited patiently for him to continue. "It was important to me to find Sonic too. I do not know him that well, but I do know that very few deserve to know that kind of fear. Considering that, and the state of most of Meka Tower as a result, it's quite refreshing to see him as spirited as he is."

"Yeah!" He could hear the smile in Tails's voice. "You bet it is! I mean, why should I even be surprised?"

"Not to mention, it seems the hedgehog has a tendency to know what to do when things are dire. That means he is valuable to overcoming whatever this battle will place in front of us. So for everyone's sake including his own, I hope he can be careful, like you were telling him."

"Me too. Oh, and one more thing before I forget to mention it."

"Yes?"

"Do you think it would maybe… be a good idea to swing by Sonic's area now and then? I just… it would—"

"Tails." Espio cut him off. "Above all, we infiltrated this prison to find out how to free it. You must let me try to do that much. If I keep interrupting myself to go up to the top floor, it'll only make it take longer. And the longer I take to figure this place out, the more likely bad things are to happen."

"Yeah. I guess you're right."

"…That's all?"

"Yep," the fox said simply. "I thought a rendezvous might be a good idea every so often is all. That way you can keep Sonic informed and Sonic can keep you informed. He and Lucas seem to know quite a bit about this place, which makes sense obviously. They might be able to help even if they're trapped right now."

"Of course. If I'm in their general area, I'll make it a point to catch myself up with them. I thought you meant…"

"You thought I was still all worried," Tails said. "I, uh, am. But I gotta stop fussing over Sonic and let both you and him do what you guys have to do. You've told me what you're going to do, and Sonic promised me he'd try to be careful. So we all know where we're at now. Speaking of which, where _are _you at, location-wise? My radar's not quite up to par yet with what I'm asking of it. I can't seem to find ya when you're too high up."

"I'm near the top. I found a dead-end hallway here that I sleep at the end of when I'm in this area."

"You just curl up in a corner or something?"

"Basically. I got a bedroll from one of the few empty cells, so it's bearable. Anyway?"

"Uh, like I said, just working on the radar. Gotta iron out a few more kinks. It'd be nice to have one more Chaos Emerald but I don't want to leave the Master Emerald to look for one. But don't worry about me, I'll figure it out. I should let you get back to whatever you're doing."

"Sleeping," Espio said even though Tails hadn't asked. "Let me know when you've worked out your problems with the radar. It'll be useful."

"Will do."

They stopped talking. Espio got up and walked briskly and quietly down the dark hallway, back to the main spiral, and made his way further down. He realized he didn't feel like sleeping yet. After the day's successes he wanted to discover more. Besides, sleeping in enemy territory wasn't exactly relaxing, and unlike everyone else in Meka Tower, he still had freedom left to lose. He didn't sleep much.

The detective finished rounding the spiral, eyes squinted to see his way in the dimness, and began making his way down the next section. Minutes later, unbeknownst to him, the red daytime lights came on in the hallway of the top floor. But he had already made too much progress away, and the light did not reach far enough for him to notice.

xxx

It was another boring, quiet evening on the top floor. The weather outside was cooler than usual as summer was beginning to wind down, and it seemed to saturate the enormous building, giving the interior a welcome fresh feel. Usually the place was rather warm. Sonic tended to feel the worst of it due to his fur.

Around the same time as normal, everyone began to wind down too, casting the floor in relative silence. The blue blur flopped down, bouncing on his pillow once with his bottom before landing in a laying position on the sleeping bag below it, and sighed loudly. "This place gets more predictable every day. I want _out _already!"

"Can't get you out," Lucas said quietly, looking thoughtful, "but I think I've got a way to make it a little less predictable."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Half the time you're asleep by now, so I don't know if you've noticed what robots patrol the first part of the night. There's not very _many _of them. But one of them has them has that, uh, thing on its hand. With the water. If you know what I'm getting at, here."

"Oh yeah?" Sonic appeared to have caught onto Lucas's tone of suggestion, but paused mid-grin. "Uh, I'm not sure what you're after yet."

"Well, there are less robots patrolling at night than there are during the day. So, if we perhaps wanted to _destroy _one, perhaps the one with the nozzle thing since it's so _convenient_, night would perhaps be a much more inconspicuous time."

The blue blur crossed his arms with a daring little chuckle. "Perhaps. I like the way you think."

"Only if you're cool with it, though." Always with the disclaimer. "I mean, somehow I have a feeling nothing we do is inconspicuous anymore."

Sonic pressed a palm to his forehead. "Wow, way to crash your own party. I'm impressed."

"Sorry, it's just that I know—"

"Save it. I'd _love _if we could continue on the same train of thought you started out with."

"Okay. Well, first off…" Lucas made a motion, and Kai ascended up to the window looking all excited. "This little guy wants to do it. But he wanted to check with you first. He came to me really eagerly earlier, like he had an idea. So I spent about an hour talking to him. Or really, asking him a long series of questions and watching him nod or shake his head or… gesture to something. Took a while, but here's what Kai was thinking."

"I'm all ears!" Sonic said. Kai flew into his cell and plopped down comfortably on the hedgehog's head, holding said ears for emphasis.

"Kai thinks the androids are on a lower power mode at night, since things are calmer and most of the time there's no need for them anyway. It preserves energy. So they probably have slower reflexes as a result."

"Because my reflexes aren't fast enough already," Sonic muttered.

"Sonic, _Kai_ wants to kill the android," Lucas reminded him. At the same time, the chao gave a reprimanding tug on one of his ears.

"Ow! Right, sorry. Sometimes I get a little ahead of myself."

"Anyway, what we're thinking is that next time that android comes by us, Kai is going to attack him. As long as no other androids are around," he added. "I know he's just a chao, but the androids have weak exteriors."

The weight lifted from Sonic's head. He watched Kai's silhouette fly away and then ran his hands over his ears, fixing the fur Kai had messed up slightly. "And he's, what, asking _my _permission? Why bother with all this explanation when it'll ruin the surprise? You know what I'll say."

"Good, because judging by the way Kai just took off, he's going to do this right now."

Something snapped loudly. Sonic focused his vision in the darkness and saw Kai break one of the intercom speakers from the ceiling. He blinked. Eggman _had _been giving that chao Chaos drives after all.

The android passed in front of his cell, but long before it had a chance to look in, Kai rammed its head with the device.

For a second, nothing happened. The android looked like it was still perfectly functional. Sonic worried for the chao's safety. If the android hadn't been harmed, it would reveal its attacker to Eggman, and he would know his pet had betrayed him. Maybe it hadn't been such a great idea after all…

Then the robot exploded, making the area illuminate and sending shreds of steel everywhere. Sonic dropped down and smacked the ground, barely avoiding the projectile debris that shot into his cell. It hit the back wall and clinked to the floor, sparking and snapping. Somewhere in the back of his mind he realized he should have expected that.

"Chaoooo!" Kai cried happily. A few dozen people echoed his triumph, their voices bouncing off the walls. Sonic jumped in surprise. It wasn't a thunderous applause or anything, but it was more than he'd heard in… a while. More than he had come to expect of the people around him, if he were to be honest with himself. He had unintentionally become accustomed to the quietness that now hovered throughout the tower.

It had been that way ever since that dreadful day Eggman had first come to his cell. He knew it was not coincidence. Even now it still tore at him inside that they all thought that had been the end of the fight. It was far from it if _he_ had anything to say about it. But how could he communicate that to them?

"Eh heh, forgot to mention that we let some other people in on this," Lucas said over the noise of the cheers. "I know it's just one robot, but Kai was really excited, so we made it a big deal."

"It _is _a big deal!" Sonic said, looking around as though he could see his fellow prisoners. Man, it was good to hear them cheer, even if it was weak. Compared to the last few weeks, they might as well have been screaming. "This is the kind of awesome stuff we should have been doing from the start!"

_This_, he realized, was how he was supposed to communicate with them. Just like Kai had done. He didn't need to reveal his secret to get them to understand there was still hope. He just had to fight. To _act_.

Of course, it wasn't quite that simple. Being inside Meka Tower at all posed a massive threat to him on its own. Taking action increased that risk. And even then, he would have to _wait_. Wait for the opportunities to make a move, and wait for the people around him to respond, to become vocal or active themselves. Sonic hated waiting.

_But nothing starts until you take action, right? And if we _don't _do anything, we'll be waiting for nothing. I'd rather be waiting for _something_! I'd rather run the risk._

"You know, droids like that captured us," Lucas pointed out, gesturing to the heap of robot in the hallway. "Neither of us had a chance the first time we fought them, or else we wouldn't have wound up here. Yet here this little chao can break things off walls and destroy androids… on his first try. What's that say about us?"

Sonic laughed. "Hah, that's a thought, isn't it? But you said yourself, they don't have strong exteriors. That's something we didn't know before. Plus, chao can be pretty powerful, and Eggman definitely fed this guy drives."

Looking rather thrilled with himself, Kai wiggled into Lucas's cell and glomped him into the back wall. "H-hey, man," Lucas said, easing him away. "That was pretty awesome. Okay, okay, calm down, you're freaking me out here."

"Good strategy, Kai!" Sonic said, exchanging a high-five with him through the bars. "We won't miss _that _guy, will we?"

But 'that guy' was better than the alternative that was rapidly approaching them.

"What's all the commotion over here!" The voice pierced through the air like a knife through flesh; sudden, unexpected and sharp. No build-up, no warning. Red lights flashed back on in a wave from the cells at one end of the hall to the ones at the other end. It was the first time the daytime lights had been turned on at night.

A 'first time' after two and a half months was not a good indicator.

"This hallway again," the voice grumbled irritably, and then louder, less restrained: "Always this hallway!"

Lucas caught Sonic's eyes. "…No."

No. A simple word… with the most complex and disastrous implications.

Simultaneously, the two sped up to their gates, looking down the hall at who they knew was coming. That dark voice was still echoing throughout the area as though it was zigzagging off the cold walls. Kai lingered toward the back of Lucas's cell, looking troubled at the haunting sound and peeking over at Sonic for comfort.

"Mm…?"

"We're okay, we're okay," Sonic said quickly without looking at him. "You did great. Just… _hide, _or something. It's our turn now." _Chaos, when did Eggman get so scary? …Oh yeah._

Kai obediently dipped down into the far corner of Lucas's cell, looking uncertain. Sonic nodded at him reassuringly, then turned his attention back to the approaching dilemma, squinting in the crimson brightness.

As Eggman made his way down the hall, nearing them, Sonic was struck with an acute sense of apprehension that he realized he _should _have expected, all things considering, but hadn't. If only he'd had something sharp… Surely those magnets weren't in there _that _deep, right? But what ifs were pointless now. _This confrontation was going to happen eventually. I just hope…_

"Sonic." Lucas said, quietly frantic. "Sonic. We're not safe. _You're_ not safe. We've got to do something. Somehow we've got to—"

"He talks," Sonic said almost absently. "Eggman always talks before he acts. So we have time yet. I can… I can settle him down, or… or something…"

His train of thought stalled out. He suddenly felt very isolated. The atmosphere that had felt crisp and comfortable minutes ago suddenly seemed downright cold.

"What? You okay?"

Sonic didn't answer. Eggman was in earshot and getting closer. For a moment he stood there in the middle of his cell, lost. Then something clicked into place inside him and he became decisive. Ignoring the confused expression Lucas was giving him, he hopped up to the front concrete ledge and sat with his legs through the bars, going from tense to casual in the blink of an eye as the doctor finished his approach.

"Heya Eggman, happened to be in the area just now?"

Eggman took a disgusted step backward as if getting away from the satirical question itself, crossing his arms. The opposing forces met eyes for the first time in weeks. Sonic's emerald eyes were pleasant and playful as he tried to establish a mood for this encounter, tried to gain control first; Eggman's eyes, hidden behind those dark blue glasses, were unreadable.

"Think this is funny, do you?" the doctor asked in a tone that was menacingly quiet. One fist was clenched at his side. The other was in his pocket. "_You think this is funny?_" He didn't take the control pad out as much as he _tore _it out, leaving the pocket hanging inside out against his hip.

Sonic recognized it without delay. Suddenly the world wasn't right-side up anymore. His vision narrowed in. "Hey, _wait_, let's not—" he began to stammer out, but was cut off as he was abruptly pulled backwards… pulled beneath the surface of himself and everything around him. He didn't hear the impact. It was like no time passed in between, because he was so rooted to the numb horror in his mind that time didn't exist anymore. The present, the future didn't exist anymore. Life didn't exist anymore.

He had already thought that kind of dread was impossible to forget. But now he realized no matter how vivid a memory was, it couldn't compare to reality. Only reality could draw back the full horrific extent of it.

Just twenty seconds ago there had been laughter and triumph. Now he was hanging helplessly from the panel on the back wall, Eggman's face locked on him in a dead glare, Lucas and Kai completely silent off to the side. He could barely catch up with it…

_Well, according to past experience, I've got a fifty-fifty chance of getting out of this… right?_

It was a soft, wishful thought. Not humorous, not self-assuring. Just silently, bravely hopeful.

Fifty-fifty chance was being optimistic. The first out of the two times the magnets had been used, it was so the androids could take him to the scanner, and had involved no direct connection with Eggman at all. It wasn't exactly a valid statistic for his chances.

"I hope none of you thought that was the _only _sprinkler android I had!" Eggman said, heavy voice carrying throughout the hallway.

Someone muttered, "Sprinkler?"

"Did you all forget just how large Meka Tower is? Why would I only manufacture one such robot when there are so many surfaces that need to be cleaned? I have many, _many _more – and don't you doubt it for a second!" The scientist turned to Sonic. "Do you need to be…" He unlocked the door and swung it open. "…_Reminded?"_

"Get the hell out of here, Eggman!" Lucas shouted. Sonic was reminded of his friend's existence. "He didn't even do anything!"

"_You be quiet!_" The doctor snapped back. "'He didn't even do anything.' How dare you insult my intelligence like that."

"But he really—!"

"I said shut up."

Eggman approached Sonic, stopping only when he was within a foot of him. The hedgehog wasn't even trying to pull away from the panel. His muscles locked down in literal paralysis. He couldn't even flinch. Couldn't even make a futile attempt at anything. His mind was frozen in a state of sheer horror.

The world kept on turning. Cold, numb and indifferent.

xxx

_In the next chapter: The dark truce is shattered. The time has come for a certain someone to establish their position. Promises are threatened, and hope is threatened – what little Meka Tower had left, anyway. Is all as it seems? More than one individual will be forced to choose whether to sink or swim…_

xxx

*shot*

I'll update soon. I will.

Quote next chapter since this was originally all one. Hang in there, Sonic! (Heh, because he's… hanging… okaybye.)


	20. Chapter 19: Sink or Swim part 2

Hey again. Quick update, as promised – but not any less significant because of it. First of the new year, too! Hopefully things are off to a good start for everyone! :) We're picking up right where the cliffhanger left off, save for the little thing right at the beginning here. Whatever the last chapter might be telling you about this one, do read it; it's pretty crucial.

Get a load of get a load of get a load of this.

(I gotta stop making bossfight references. XD)

…

xxx

_Hope, like the gleaming taper's light,_

_Adorns and cheers our way;_

_And still, as darker grows the night,_

_Emits a brighter ray._

_-Oliver Goldsmith_

CHAPTER 19: SINK OR SWIM; ECHO

xxx

First person perspective: Sonic

xxx

This couldn't be happening. Not this. Chaos, not this.

I couldn't breathe. Never mind everything else. I couldn't even breathe. I was suffocating. My chest hurt. It was the only thing I could physically feel. Everything else was numb. No pain in my wrists or ankles. No pressure of gravity. It was like I was floating away or something.

This couldn't be happening.

_Say something._ _Say something!_ But my mouth wouldn't move, and the air wouldn't come up to make words.

_Am I breathing? Everything feels so – tight. _

_My throat tickles. Water. Not water. Oh come on, wait. Wait!_

"Sonic." Lucas's voice shattered my trance. Destroyed it like an android blowing up or something. My blurry cell surrounding me came into sharp focus. Colors that were normally dull contrasted really brutally in my vision. It made my head hurt.

I coughed, clearing the saliva that had trickled down my throat while I had been unable to get myself to swallow it.

_Come on, Sonic._

The panel was upright against the wall like usual. It hadn't moved. I still hated the view of my cell from this angle. There was nothing like environment to nurture a memory. My environment hadn't changed since then. But just looking down at it from a few inches higher, pinned to the panel, brought everything back into context. It made all the difference in the world.

Nothing good could come from this. For me _or _for Eggman. I'd make sure of that second part. _He should know that already._

"Sonic," Lucas said again. It reached me through everything and pulled me back to the surface of myself for a moment. I was thinking this up too much. Drawing a breath, I turned my head. Met his eyes for just a second. They were calm… but a forced calm. Unspoken strength for someone having a hard time finding strength of their own. Which was – weird for me. I never felt like this! What gives?

He didn't say anything else yet, even though he looked like he wanted to. But what else could he say? There was nothing anybody could say to make things any different. I thought – I thought I'd have had an idea or something before this happened again. That I'd figure this out somehow like I always did… or that it _wouldn't _happen again. Who was I kidding? Things had – changed.

How had _anything_ ever been worth risking this again?

_No… I'm not gonna think this way!_

Eggman had to have found out somehow… But how could he have? I didn't get it! We had always talked quiet. I thought I'd been careful, like Tails told me to be…

_Tails, buddy. I'm sorry. We said we'd be okay…_

But… but if Eggman _knew_…

Did that mean that what happened before – last time – had meant nothing?

"Listen to me!" Lucas demanded and I realized my attention had broken away from him again. "It'll work out, Sonic."

No it won't, no it won't. _Work, _damn mouth!

"Yes it _will_," he growled through his teeth. _Had_ I said that out loud? Or maybe I had shaken my head no… or he had just known exactly what I was thinking… Suddenly I felt self-conscious about my expression. How much could he see just looking at me? I didn't want him to see that. I didn't want him to see that _again_. I didn't want to _be _that again!

Last time he had tried to get Eggman to go away. It hadn't worked and he knew it wouldn't this time either. So he was approaching the only other person involved, the only other person he could hope to influence: me. He was all determined and angry. Like he was already convinced it would be okay and just needed to convince me.

_Convince me._

I didn't want to surrender. I just needed – ground beneath my feet. A foothold…But everything I tried to focus on to distract myself just led back to this. My shoes being pressed further into the back of my feet because of the pull of the magnets on my ankles, the pressure of my quills pressing up against the panel, tiny beads of sweat dripping toward my eyes that I couldn't reach up and wipe away.

…_Okay. Got to think of something, here. Come on, come on, come on… nothing's set in stone…_

Lucas was right. I wouldn't have wanted to know what was coming. I would never have wanted to know.

"Don't give up, Sonic." He was talking again, his voice pulling me up from the depths, but his words destroying me inside at the same time because… because I felt like I wouldn't be able to do that. I needed to get out of this! Couldn't he see that? It didn't seem that way. He wouldn't stop watching me. After a moment he added very quietly: "No matter what…?"

And it was like an echo from the past.

He was saying it for my sake. That one conversation we'd had flashed through my mind like it was unfolding for the first time right then. I had known something was wrong by the sound of his voice when he first asked me that question… but had accepted it. Accepted whatever possibilities were ahead. Accepted the challenge. Like I always did, right?

"_You're not going to give up either, right? No matter what?"_

"_No matter what."_

I heard my own voice in the memory, answering the question to him. Then I realized I had heard it for real, too, just now. It was a pathetic, trembling whisper that kind of made me want to cringe. But I guess it didn't have to be any more than that.

"No matter what," Lucas repeated back to me once more, having heard me say it. His voice was louder now. Hopeful. Really hopeful. Like he was trying to get me to feel that hope too. Like… like he thought I didn't.

_But if I didn't have hope I wouldn't still be trying right now._

Sometimes hope is all there is left to hold onto. And I was holding on tight. This was not over. It couldn't be, and wouldn't be. I _knew _that. Despite what I _felt_, I knew that. _The world keeps turning… Life goes on… Possibilities, bad and good, are always there._

_Hope is priceless._

Finally I looked up at him and clung to his gaze this time, letting him see… everything. I couldn't shield myself or anyone else from how scared I was. Not a common feeling to me, not on this level. But this wasn't a common circumstance either, and I literally couldn't help it right now. I felt transparent. Exposed. "No matter what," I choked out again, desperately, determinedly, hopefully. Lucas's face – all grim and frantic – had something else now too. Faith. Courage. For me.

"_You're an incredible person, Sonic. I just want you to know that."_

For a second I forgot why he'd ever said that. Then I remembered the rest of that conversation. The good mood he got me in just from talking. All these people I had fought for… myself included. It was important to me too, on a personal level. I… I hadn't given up. Even though people thought otherwise for a while.

Lucas's expression kinda changed a little. Because he knew just what I was thinking. It was a touch of a smile of camaraderie. And relentless hope that I really hoped showed in my expression too. He had to see that. Had to know that I…

…I wasn't giving up.

We'd always risen to match Eggman's dark power. 'We,' because Lucas was right here with me. _Everyone_ was right here with me. Lucas, Tails, Amy… they had offered undying support. I didn't have the talent to express what it meant to me. But it meant a _lot_.

I kind of wanted to smile at him. Nod my head. Let him know he had gotten his point across.

Couldn't quite do it. The full extent of my conviction, though strong for its duration, lasted all of a second. I couldn't hang onto it. Logic didn't work here. Courage didn't work here. Nothing really worked. You couldn't wiggle out of a situation like this mentally any more than you could physically. But I was trying. It was all I could do, really.

"Well isn't this cute."

I jumped a little and turned my head to my left. I had forgotten Eggman was even there. He had gone quiet, watching us. Intruding. Before I even finished shifting my eyes, he clicked his fingers and an android teleported into the room on command.

My world turned to black as I closed it off, eyes shut tight for a few seconds, escaping the sight and the implications of the sight. "Uh, Lucas," I said quietly, then stopped. I didn't even know what I wanted to say to him, or what I expected him to say to me. Naturally I listened for a response, but I didn't get one. He was… he was talking to someone else, loudly, like they were down the hall maybe. His head was turned away, so I couldn't make out the words. Made me feel really alone. I just wanted this to not happen…

"Oooh." Eggman's footfalls came closer. My ear twitched as he leaned to whisper in it, hot breath flicking the fur there. "Still fresh, isn't it, Sonic dear?"

He grasped the bottom of my muzzle and made me look at him, like he was actually waiting for me to answer. Rage shot through me and made everything else go numb for a second. The sheer _nerve…_

"Don't touch me."

Yeah. Scary, familiar moment. Last time I said that to him he told the android not to let me up for air. But Eggman himself hadn't actually _touched_ me that time. Har har. Sick irony.

"Ahh," he said in the same tone he had said it last time, almost like he knew I was thinking of that exact moment. "Nice and feisty."

Chaos. This was a nightmare.

"Sonic." He sounded thoughtful in a really dark way. "I'm curious about something."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Yeah, what." Tried to pretend I felt half as brave as I sounded.

He was really way too close. I could smell his breath, and see his eyes through his opaque blue glasses. I wasn't supposed to be able to see them. I closed my own again, determined to gather myself behind the darkness, while he whispered confidentially to me. "What is it you think you're fighting for? Your admirers? The ones you let down just a couple weeks ago?"

"Why sh-should I give you a reason?" There was a reason. I hadn't let them down. They just didn't know it yet. And neither did he, I really really hoped. I breathed heavy choked breaths, trying to stay as far away from him as I could, but the only way I could go was harder against the panel. He really _was _taking up my breathing space now.

_What was I thinking when I said that before? Although it was kind of funny… _

Maybe three or four seconds passed before he spoke again but it felt like forever. He… he had to be messing with me. Trying to get me to cave about what I did…

Or, you know. What I _didn't _do.

"I just find it curious," Eggman continued when I didn't, still holding me near the throat. "I don't know what you have left to fight for, Sonic."

"I could say the same to you." I opened my eyes. "The Chaos Emerald didn't get me off this thing before. It doesn't work that way, Eggman, and that's what you wanted." There I was, faking again. For all I knew the Chaos Emerald might work that way. I'd purposely never found out. Though, it was a Chaos Emerald, after all… driven by emotion… but Eggman didn't know as much about them as I did. _Let's keep it that way! _"Where's that leave you?"

"Oh, I'll manage," the doctor said with a smile. "But then again, I'm not currently the one rendered immobile on a wall. A wall which, might I add will not be upright for very much longer." My breath kinda hitched in my throat. Backward logic when you think about it… heh… "Sonic. Are you listening?"

I blinked. "Not really. Honestly, silence is music to my ears compared to your voice." He thought I was being a smartass but I actually really, _really _meant that. It didn't sound sarcastic in my head!

"Good, you are listening. Keep doing that. A little birdie told me that you had some kind of communication device in your possession the other day. Might that little birdie be correct?"

I was pretty sure my heart stopped. Espio's communicator… and I had been talking to Tails! _Tell me he didn't hear that! _Tails. That was why he was here. "Little birdie?"

"Why Sonic, it's only a turn of phrase. But, to simplify it for you, it was an android. An android that_ saw_ you with the device and nothing more. Which leaves you and me both with our own little predicaments. _I _don't know who you were talking to and why, and _you _don't want to tell me."

_And _that _leads to…_

"Well, I gotta say, it sounds like your androids need an upgrade. Seriously, how would I get a communicator, doc? If I could get outta this cell, I'd be _long_ gone, not snagging communicators from whatever other friends of mine might be in this place."

"Yes, that's what I was wondering, too. Why don't _you_ tell _me?_"

"Can't tell ya something I don't know the answer to myself. But if you find the communicator I apparently had, feel free to let me know." Faker, faker, faker…

"Sonic, let's skip this annoying game today."

"Heh, be my guest!" I'd have shrugged and threw my hands up if they weren't pinned. _It's really irritating not being able to use body language. _"Let me off here, turn those obnoxious lights back down again, and we'll call it a night. It's late anyway. I don't wanna keep you up past your bedtime. That'd be way rude of me."

They say humor is the best defense mechanism, but right now I really, genuinely wanted to just stop talking. It's just that I felt like the second I did, he would take it as a flat-out refusal, and then…

_Well. Let's take this one minute at a time, here. Stay in the moment._

I had to stay in the moment. I had to come out the other side of this mess, whatever happened. I promised Tails. I didn't break promises.

I promised myself, too.

"You'd like that. So would I, to be frank." Psh, yeah right. Heh, I wasn't the _only _one who ought to stop talking! "But Sonic, you've got to understand… I must know how and why you had that communicator. I can't allow communication with outside forces, for obvious reasons, so if you were in contact with one I must stop you and then stop them."

He finally did quit talking, waiting for me to pick my own fate, and now the silence honestly did hurt more than anything. It was like the pause between speech and action… But I couldn't and _wouldn't _tell him about Tails. _That's for sure._

"Oh, _Son_ic…?" he said expectantly, free thumb dancing over that switch on the remote. It would shift the panel out and tilt on its axis. He knew I was aware of that, too.

Looking away from him, down past the floor, was all I could do at that point. Maybe he was holding me just above the throat but he couldn't keep me from looking away. My heart was pounding – _boom_-boom, _boom_-boom, _boom_-boom – and I knew he could feel it in his hand as much as I could feel it everywhere.

Everything was silent. I knew people down the hall could hear what had just gone on, but nobody was saying anything. It was depressing. Eerie.

I hoped above all else it was because of smart decision making, not because of intimidation, and… not because they had been let down. They couldn't just cower under his authority every time something threatening happened! I had to believe the best of them. Like they had believed the best of me. I'd been the foundation of their hope through quite a bit of this.

They had all cheered for Kai only minutes ago. They still had hope, then, right? Even after what happened before, they had held onto… something. Or at least built it back up. They would do the same again today. Their spirit could be their own foundation now. And I had to be my own foundation too, right? The only person whose response I could determine was mine, after all. And I couldn't let doubt keep its balance on the foothold it already had. Not while I still had some seconds… numbered breaths…

Those breaths were getting quicker all the time. I was scared. Nothing could change that. And when the panel shifted outward and started tilting, a part of me couldn't help worrying that none of it was going to matter anymore. My lies to Eggman about the Chaos Emeralds, Lucas's attempt to help, the talks since the first time it happened a fortnight ago, that greatconversation with Tails that I wished had been _so _much longer… all the progress we had made, and all the progress that… that _I _had made on a personal level… since that day… None of it was going to matter anymore… It was like everything that occurred in those few short weeks had unwound itself. Like that one day had never ended, and this was just going to be a continuation of it.

The panel shifted outward on the joint it was connected to. I collapsed inside myself. This… _was _going to happen. This was actually going to happen. I felt like I could throw up. Reasoning deserted me, replaced only by the ear-splitting groan of the shifting panel.

It stopped abruptly.

"Look at me, hedgehog."

He was waiting for me to respond… another chance…

Outwardly I showed nothing. Mostly because I couldn't even if I wanted to. I was trapped, and not only because my hands and ankles were stuck. I couldn't even _think_ right. I stared on blankly. Everything looked surreal. I didn't look up despite his snappy demand.

"Sonic…" Lucas whispered quietly. I expected to see fear or defeat in his expression to go along with the sense of finality I suddenly felt about the situation, but it wasn't there. "Look forward to tomorrow, Sonic…"

And then I found myself again. There was a tomorrow. Sounds crazy, but you really do forget things like that when you're scared out of your mind.

_This has to matter… I'll make it matter!_

Tomorrow. I _would _look forward to tomorrow. Tomorrow would be there waiting for me.

"_If 'what if' happens again for whatever reason, then that'll just be one heck of a lousy day, won't it?"_

A lousy day. Yeah. Today would just be a lousy day, like I told Tails. And by the time I got the chance to talk to him again, everything would be okay. Right?

I wasn't ready. I would never be ready. But I couldn't let last time be all for nothing. I couldn't do that to them, and I couldn't do that to myself.

Tomorrow would be there waiting for me, but today… today was just another day.

I lifted my gaze from the floor and finally recommenced eye contact with my enemy. Even though he would see everything too.

And I had no regrets.

xxx

Third person perspective

xxx

In spite of it all… Lucas smiled.

It wasn't an expression he felt lightly. It wasn't a happy smile, nor a large one. It wasn't for himself. It wasn't for the rest of Meka Tower. It was only for the deep, tragic, yet beautiful shine of resolution he could see in Sonic's emerald eyes. Lucas let his own expression show outwardly only because he knew the blue blur would never want him to withhold a smile.

He watched the two opposing forces lock eyes. The piercing glower suddenly on the hedgehog's face could have frozen fire. It was like it had been there the whole time. As if in response, the doctor snapped his fingers again. The android turned around and came to silent a silent standstill.

"Hey," Lucas said, reaching for the Sonic's attention. His eyes shot up again, scared but fierce. So did Eggman's this time.

"This little game has gone on long enough," the doctor said before Lucas could continue, or Sonic could respond. "Unless there is anything you'd like to tell me that Sonic won't."

Lucas didn't need to look into Sonic's eyes again to know what he'd find there: _'Don't tell him. Don't tell him.' _And he didn't miss a beat.

"I have nothing to say to you, Eggman."

"Really?" Eggman asked, trying to make it sound suspicious, but Lucas had a feeling from his tone that there was some genuine surprise there. The doctor was taken aback. He thanked whatever gods there were for that glimpse of uncertainty. Maybe Eggman didn't know what Sonic had done – or _hadn't _done – after all.

They still had something to fight for.

With that in mind, Lucas couldn't help but wonder; if he told Eggman the truth about that day, would he leave Sonic alone?

Could he say who Sonic had been talking to on the communicator and keep this nightmare from happening?

Did he have the power to stop this before it started? Could it be that simple?

He would be discarding what Sonic had fought for. But maybe, just maybe, the hedgehog could finally be safe.

But…

No. He had to trust Sonic. It was Sonic's decision to make. Not his. Not anyone else's. Sonic was choosing to fight this battle.

Besides, even if he told all, none of them _knew_ the truth about the Chaos Emeralds. None of them knew the truth about the influence of fear. Eggman included. Lucas would be giving him all the information that would make him even _angrier _at Sonic, without being able to give him the information he had been after all along.

That was a bad combination. He hated himself for not realizing it before the notion had crossed his mind. He hated himself _more _for letting that notion cross his mind at all. He would not betray Sonic, even if it could have made the hedgehog safe again. He could never, ever betray Sonic.

He peeled his eyes away from Sonic and Eggman through the bars. It hurt to do so, as if something terrible would happen just because he wasn't watching. But he had to. He had to do something… he just hoped the people he had talked to a few minutes ago had gotten the courage to pass on his message. If not, this would be devastating and utterly humiliating.

"All right, Meka Tower," he nervously called out the front bars. "Let's show them whose side we're on."

Sonic looked at him blankly. Petrified to the spot by more than only the magnets, he didn't quite have the mental capacity right then to try and figure out what Lucas meant.

And Eggman… Eggman's attention was focused only on the blue blur. He didn't even acknowledge the newborn voices that began to timidly rise up from the hollowness of the tower…

It started off quiet.

Compared to what was going on, it was like insignificant background music. Sonic wasn't even processing it. He could think of little aside from what was about to happen. But even as he hung there horrified, those voices coalesced into something recognizable, something real and palpable. Even so, for the longest moment, Sonic truly thought it was his imagination hearing just what shape those words were taking.

"_Sonic… Sonic… Sonic…"_

It was like they _wanted _to cry out for him, really wanted to. But they were discouraged by the fact that the crowd as a whole wasn't being loud enough to drown out any individual voice. Self-conscious. Afraid.

More people gained courage from one another and joined in. The chant began to grow, just like it always had before. Convinced the hedgehog it was actually there. Forced him to acknowledge it, to believe it.

_They're… they're really cheering my name? Right now?_

Since two weeks ago, he hadn't really gotten a sign that… that they still had it in them. But suddenly it all made sense. It was human nature, wasn't it, to wait for someone else to make the first move…

_"SON-IC! SON-IC! SON-IC!"_

And Lucas had made it.

The chanting was loud now, and Sonic could pinpoint the exact moment Eggman snapped out of it enough to realize just what they were saying. The two of them met eyes – and shared a bizarre, inexplicable moment of mutual shock.

That cheering – it was like an echo from the past. An echo of the past, and at the same time, the very sound of the present.

Just like his conversation with Lucas had echoed. _No matter what…_

Sonic was stunned almost to the point of smiling. Again he was struck with the thought; _Is this really happening? _But now it was for an entirely different reason.

The world would keep turning. Life would keep happening, his own included. It had before. So it didn't matter. It really didn't matter now what happened. For that single moment, he was invincible.

_Don't ever quiet down again, you guys. And I swear I won't again either._

"Please!" Eggman said loudly, outraged. "You think this will stop me? If you refuse to tell me why you had…"

"Maybe it won't stop you _now_," said the blue blur, voice shaking for so many reasons, "but _we will_ stop you. It's only a matter of time."

The cries around him didn't cease. Eggman had to shout over them to communicate with his victim – and shout he did. "Is it?" he practically roared, fists clenching. "Well then, _BACK IT UP _for me, hedgehog!"

"Always have… always _will!_"

A rush of dark came forth. Sonic jolted, startled and wrecked with adrenaline as it was. Eggman, facing Sonic, didn't see the cause until it was right in their midst.

Kai had come out of nowhere, placing himself between hedgehog and human, facing Eggman in the path of danger. He moaned in fury. The doctor took the chao in, growing confused and then skeptical.

The room seemed to get a little darker. The everlasting chants became eerily unfitting; a distant echo now far removed from the actual situation. Kai was revealing his true loyalty. Was giving it all away.

Sonic made his voice work. "Kai… _no!_"

The cheering went on obliviously. _Sonic… Sonic… Sonic…_

"What's this…?" Eggman asked slowly, taking a few steps toward the chao floating in his line of travel. "Are you trying to guard him, Kai? You must be confused. Come here, and all will be forgiven." He reached out a hand, giving the illusion of a request – as if he couldn't just lunge out and snatch Kai right then and there.

The chao came, but not in the way Eggman had certainly intended. He threw himself at the scientist's face headfirst, and crunched hard into his nose.

Hell yeah.

"Hngh!" Eggman stumbled backwards, bringing both hands to his face. Blood gushed between his fingers. "You little… _you little!_" Raw fury taking over, he made to grab the chao, flinging the fresh red fluid on the wall. Kai dodged – the blow, the blood, and the android that was now trying to catch him too – and threw himself at Eggman again, paws aiming for his eyes, and only missed them because the doctor's posture had shifted as he recovered from the reach. The connector between his spectacles still bent as Kai continued along with momentum anyway and rammed into his face again.

Eggman cried out in pain, blood dripping from his nose into his open mouth.

Looking like the dark chao he was – but for all the right reasons – Kai backed away toward Sonic, arms and legs spread defensively as he hovered there in the air, looking fully ready to attack a third time at the slightest provocation. Kai had witnessed Sonic being tortured once, and that was more than enough for all his reincarnations combined as far as he was concerned. Especially since he was the one who had first drawn Eggman's attention…

He looked over at the blue blur for the briefest of instances, and winked.

Whatever Sonic had been about to say to get his chao friend to safety was lost forever at the sight of that wink. He saw himself reflected in those fierce eyes. And more importantly, he saw the chao's brave, endearing personality that had been hiding under the surface all along.

Kai was a dark chao only by appearance. It was a physical representation of the way Eggman had raised him… nothing more.

Eggman glowered at Sonic like the chao's change of heart was his fault – not that it wasn't – and Sonic, for his part, joined Kai in glaring back. Together they dared him to make another move. Then, growling under his breath, the scientist turned on his heels and stormed out of the cell, red coat whipping around behind him. He slammed the gate and mashed the deactivator on his remote, freeing Sonic from the panel as it shifted back into the wall.

The blue blur fell to the ground, catching himself on his hands and knees.

"I will be back to account for both of you!" Eggman hissed with a glare through the bars, blood making his mustache clump together.

"Bring it on!" Sonic shot back vehemently, clenching a trembling fist. He pressed his knuckles into the floor and pushed himself back up. "This is _so _not over!"

"Indeed it's not, hedgehog," the android said before Eggman could summon it away. It sprayed water from its fingertips, leaving dots of moisture on the floor at Sonic's feet.

Sonic laughed and charged at it wordlessly. The scene consisted of a rush of blue followed by a concise explosion. His shoes screeched against the metal as he braked, ultimately catching himself against the front gate.

One side of Eggman's mustache was trimmed neatly to half-length. A sharp piece of broken robot had sliced it off as it flew past. Kai, still on full alert, made a sharp motion towards the doctor again, just in case he had anything else up his sleeve. Wisely, he retreated.

Sonic's ferocity fizzled down somewhat as he turned to face Kai, though the glow of hot adrenaline was still alight in his eyes. "You okay?"

The chao nodded, looking anxious but happy.

Everyone was watching Eggman hastily make his way back to where he had come from, defeated in his own stronghold. His coat was flapping ungracefully, blood escaping his between his fingers as he held his injured face. The roars of passion from people all over the top floor erupted; became utterly wholehearted. It was a heated kind of joy. Triumph for Sonic and Kai. A fervent sense of victory over Eggman. Deserved retribution. Restored passion as if the doctor had never laid a finger to Sonic, had never shattered the morale of Meka Tower.

This time, Amber joined in too.

Sonic grinned, cheeks going warm. Something inside him was going even warmer than that, though, at the sound of all that rebelliousness and zest that he hadn't heard in what seemed like way too long. But now that didn't matter anymore, and he found himself admiring the resilience of the people around him just as much as they admired his. "You guys… are amazing."

His surprise was lost in the overwhelming thunder of the ovation. It went on long past the amount of time he would ever have expected. Over and over he heard his own name and Kai's screamed out in victorious comradeship. It was stunning. Those voices, that – that sheer _spirit_ – it was just as real now as it had been any other time. It was like some kind of amazing dream.

"Well, Kai?" Sonic nearly had to holler to be heard even as the collection of voices finally began to fizzle down a few moments later. But the buoyant expression on his face spoke even louder. "How do you like being on _our _side?"

The chao nodded vigorously, making his two arching spikes bounce. His emotive orb shaped into a heart.

"You know, Sonic, I think you take robots out better when you're all riled up. You're kinda awesome when you're mad."

"Huh? I'm not mad, man! Anything but!"

"You were before when that robot turned to you guys."

"Well, you don't mess with my friends!" he said, pointing a thumb at Kai, whose heart-ball grew larger at the statement.

"And you don't combine Sonic and water in one situation."

Sonic put a hand on his hip defensively, then let it drop. "A little late to say _that, _all things considering," he muttered as Kai plopped down contently on his head. Giving into another smile, he reached up and grabbed the chao, who promptly got all excited again. "You… I was worried you were gonna get yourself hurt."

"I think Kai feels the same about you."

"Yeah," Sonic said. "Thanks, Kai. I mean, _really_." His voice became very soft as held the chao out at arm's length to look very deliberately into those big black eyes. "Thank you, Kai."

Meka Tower finally settled back to its normal level of noise, though it didn't go unnoticed to any of them that the chatter was more spirited and dynamic than it had been in a few weeks. Granting himself a private intermission from it all as relief hit home, Sonic closed his eyes, rubbing his temples with his fingertips.

"All good, Sonic?" Lucas asked, looking uncomfortable.

"Whew, yeah," the hedgehog said, opening his eyes enough to look up at his friend. "Close call there."

"…Unpredictable enough for ya?"

"Freshened things up, that's for sure." He caught onto Lucas's self-conscious tone and remembered just what conversation had sparked all this. "Hey, don't worry about it. It's not your guys' fault. I am okay, Lucas. I promise."

"That was not how Kai and I figured our plan would work."

Sonic chuckled. "Please! How often do things work the way we think they will around here?"

Though the question was rhetoric, Lucas frowned, giving it some consideration.

"…Exactly," Sonic said after a moment. "No need to stress. Would have come up anyway, probably. Eggster just needed the excuse, right? But hey, we got two bots down in less than ten minutes, not to mention the ol' doc's nose." He glanced at Kai approvingly. "Pretty successful ten minutes, if you ask me."

"I… guess it was."

"And Lucas." That look was in the hedgehog's eyes again; the one that, whether he intended it to or not, exposed everything. "Everything you said… Thank you, too. You don't have any idea…"

"I'm already in debt to you as far as thank yous," Lucas said with a smile. "You're making it worse. But Sonic… you were awesome. You'd have done what it took either way."

He chuckled softly in response. "I guess you were right, my friend! You said everything was gonna be okay, and… it is."

"Yeah," the man breathed. "It is."

Sonic sat down. Kai admitted himself to the hedgehog's lap and curled up close, looking relatively content if not still a little shaken. Sonic couldn't say he felt much different himself. His hands shook ever so slightly as though the excess adrenaline was manifesting itself there. Closing his eyes again, he leaned back against the wall, letting himself settle down.

_That… was… close._

And things were still far from perfect. He knew what had to happen next, which wasn't doing anything for the anxiety still churning in his stomach.

But for the moment, he realized he was exhausted. It was nighttime. And while he'd be awake and jovial the next morning, right now he found himself mentally drained. First priority was rest.

Everyone around them was talking. He heard his experience being recounted from several different people, some of them just sounding relieved at its desirable conclusion, others thrilled at the notion that more androids had been destroyed. Lucas started shooting the breeze with someone a few cells down about Eggman's asymmetrical mustache. The red lights turned off, leaving the nighttime atmosphere coated in lukewarm violet.

"In the end, what happened before didn't break anyone's spirit,"Sonic murmured, partially to Kai and partially to himself as he remembered what part of Eggman's goal had been just over a fortnight ago. He brought his knees up, making his lap something of a nest for Kai, and ran his hand over the chao's short fur, watching him begin to nod off. Then Sonic smiled in quiet happiness, realizing he would sleep just fine too despite everything. "He only added fuel to the fire. It's our gain now."

xxx

"_I've just gotta do what I've gotta do; that's all!" –Sonic, Black Knight_

xxx

_In Chapter 20: …Sonic picked up a piece of sharp debris from the android he had destroyed in his cell earlier. This was one of the last pieces, as he'd thrown the others out into the hallway – but he wasn't getting rid of this particular piece just yet. He studied it thoughtfully and spun it on his finger a few times before glancing off at nothing. "Hmm."_

xxx

…Worth it? :) Gosh, I have to admit I really enjoyed this one, for what happened and what didn't. Suffice to say I am soooo happy to have it up. I was looking forward to it. Have to get all excited for a second here. ^v^ YUSH :) ^v^ Hope you guys liked it too.

Also, I'm 'back,' so there's a few of you I'll be catching up with really soon.

See you next time. :) Thanks for all your support so far.


	21. Chapter 20: The Lesser of Two Evils

If I haven't responded to anyone's reviews/messages yet (I think I responded to most of you though), I'm getting there. Anyone who's talked to me longer than a week knows I'm kinda terrible at time management and getting back to people. Usually I'm good about responding to reviews though, and commenting on other people's stories if I've told them I would, but lately I've just been taking my sweet time I guess. XD

Meant to update yesterday but forgot. But hey, today's just as good a day as any. :3

You probably saw this one coming. ;)

CHAPTER 20: THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS

"Nope, can't do it."

"Can't do what?"

Sonic glanced up at the window as Lucas approached it from the other side, rubbing morning tiredness out of his eyes. "Get the magnets out," the hedgehog replied, looking at the tops of his wrists, where the scars were just visible above his gloves. "I mean, I can, but I really _really _don't want to. I mean, I _want _to, but…" He sighed nervously, ditching that sentence all together and seeking a more adequate one. "Yeesh, why couldn't he have just put straps around my wrists to hold the magnets on, or something?"

"Probably because it's a lot easier and less painful to tear through a strap than it is to tear through skin."

"Thanks," Sonic muttered, giving his friend a deadpan glare. "Makes perfect sense now. Epitome of wisdom." He pulled off his gloves and ran a bare finger gently over the jagged mark near his opposite hand. "Really, though, I need to ditch these things at some point."

"This red lighting is really obnoxious this early," Lucas commented pointlessly, stretching. Then Sonic's words seemed to register fully in his tired mind and he cleared his throat. "Hey, uh, I could help you, you know," he said somewhat absently, still trying to wake up and, Sonic thought, not quite realizing what he was getting himself into. "What are you going to use, anyway?"

The hedgehog eyed him skeptically for a moment, then shrugged and set something thin and smooth on the window ledge. "A few chunks of those destroyed robots from the other day are still in here," he said, flicking the thing lightly with a finger, making it spin. "This one was nice and sharp."

"Are you sure that's safe?"

"Nope," Sonic said, "but it's the lesser of two evils, that's for sure." He shot an accusing glance behind him at the ever-present magnetic panel as if to indicate his point, then took his gloves off and deposited them next to his bed. The gesture was firm and final; ready to do what he had to do. Mostly.

Lucas considered for a moment, suddenly looking a lot more awake, eyeing the two-inch slice of metal as if it might have some suggestions. "All right, uh… all right. Like, right now? Okay. Listen, why don't you sit on the window ledge like you did before?" he gingerly picked up the makeshift knife. "I'd be able to reach your hands and ankles that way."

"Works for me." Sonic jumped up to the window, grabbed the bars, and slid his legs through in one smooth motion.

"Comfortable?"

"Guess so," he said, sticking one hand between the bars as well so Lucas could examine it. "As much as I'm going to get, anyway, right?" He tried to laugh but it came out dry.

"I am… not experienced in this type of thing. At all."

"Me neither," Sonic said. "But, I mean, I think it's pretty straightforward. Just, y' know…" he made a cutting motion with his hand and shrugged. "…Yeah."

"Hooo boy," Lucas laughed nervously, "can I retract my offer?"

"Nope, too late," Sonic said with a smirk, aiming for some semblance of nonchalance. "The first one'll be the toughest for both of us though. Quicker you do it, quicker it's over."

"This is sabotage," the human grumbled.

"_You're _telling _me!_"

"Yeah, yeah… I know it's Eggman's fault. Sorry, I'm just totally out of my element right now. Uh… I'm going to start with this hand," he said, turning the hand Sonic had offered to look at the scar. He bit his lip, unable to decide if he was more nervous for his own sake or for Sonic's. "Okay?" The hedgehog nodded. "If you flinch, I'm going to freak out and worry I messed something up. Just being honest."

"Then I, uh, won't."

"All right… here goes."

Lucas laid the blade to Sonic's skin. Hedgehog and human took a simultaneous deep breath. Time seemed to pass in slow motion before Lucas drew the blade very tentatively across the top of Sonic's hand.

For several seconds they were both convinced they were actually getting somewhere.

"…Offer some resistance, Sonic, will you?"

"Well put some pressure on it, then!" Sonic positioned his hand better on his leg, letting it serve as a foundation. "Jeez, I'd have done that if I got any indication that you were actually trying to _start_."

Lucas raised an eyebrow and met Sonic's indignant expression. "Guess we're both wusses, huh?"

"Speak for yours-_AGH!_" Sonic cried out, lurching as his skin finally gave way to Lucas's cautious cutting motion. His opposite hand flew reflexively off the bar it had been gripping, which in turn made him lose his balance, bottom sliding off the narrow window ledge. His arms flailed instinctually for something to catch himself on and only found a very unfortunate Kai who had just entered his cell. One of the hedgehog's feet stayed caught between the bars momentarily as the rest of him fell, so he ultimately landed on his head, taking Kai with him in one hand, in what was perhaps the most dignified and graceful maneuver to take place in Meka Tower that day.

The shoe that said foot normally occupied stayed wedged between two bars up at the window like it was laughing at him.

"Sonic! Are you okay?" Lucas asked, peeking down at him. The hedgehog was crumpled on the floor quivering, a bead of blood rapidly forming where the knife had slightly pierced his hand. For a second Lucas's heart stopped, until he realized the blue blur was shaking for good reasons.

"Man… I'm s-so sorry, Kai…" Sonic managed, so debilitated by laughter that he didn't even bother trying to get up yet. The chao looked at him, startled and confused, having no idea what had just happened. His gaze couldn't seem to quite focus on the hedgehog, and his emotive sphere shaped into a dizzy spiral. "I… I think I land on my head more than my feet these days!"

"At least you're hard-headed," Lucas remarked, leaning on the ledge and watching as the hedgehog wiped at his eyes and got up.

"Yeah, I guess that's a… wait." Sonic blinked and didn't continue, unsure whether he should agree with Lucas or fix him with a look.

"You gonna man up, or what? I don't have all day," the man joked, strumming his fingers on the ledge.

"Hey!" Sonic grinned good-naturedly, picking himself up by the bars and sliding his legs through again, this time putting a little more effort into ascertaining his balance. "You watch it, my friend!"

"Watch it? You're not the one with the knife here!"

"That's…. true. Well, in that case, how about we finish cutting through this issue while my adrenaline's going, yeah?"

"If you think you can _handle _it this time."

"I only lost my balance!" Sonic said stubbornly.

"Guess we can't be too confident in your sitting abilities, then? You either get to feel silly for falling or for flinching. Take your pick."

"I'll decide later. Come _on_! I wanna get this over with already!"

"You asked," Lucas said, and got to work. Sonic steeled himself and tried not to pull away.

_Ow. Owwww. Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow. Too slow, ow, go faster, slice it open already, it's only an inch and a half long for Chaos's sake, ow._

Sonic turned his head to the side a little, squeezing an eye shut and making some peculiar noises in his throat, but kept his hand limp as it rested on his leg. His other hand had a white-knuckle grip on the bar once again.

Lucas snagged his gaze, concerned. "If I'm—"

"Yeah, spare me."

"Granted." Albeit slowly, Lucas finished making the incision. It was shallow; it had to be, since there was very little substance between his skin and the actual magnet. It wasn't much more severe than an everyday accidental cut, except that it was longer and it was on _purpose_, which made it seem quite a bit more painful. It didn't bleed at a dangerous pace, but the amount of red seeping over Sonic's skin still wasn't all that encouraging considering there were three more cuts to make… "Don't bleed so much," the human muttered. "The droids are going to notice the stains if we leave any."

"Talk louder, my veins can't hear you."

Lucas chuckled. "Because this is totally the time for sarcasm."

"It must be, if you're laughing!" Sonic said, exuding humor.

"Psh, whatever, Sonic." Lucas rolled his eyes, not looking at him and continuing with what he was doing. "Anyway, I was going to say that we can have Kai bring us some stuff to clean up with. I doubt he'll mind."

"Yeah, good thinking," Sonic said, both eyes closed now as Lucas began to work with the opening, trying to ease the magnet out with his fingers. "Nngh…"

"This is the hard part, I imagine… right? Ugh, it hurts just watching myself do this… I'm trying to be gentle about it, but it's a stubborn little bastard. I mean, I could press on either side of the cut and try to squeeze it out, but then you'd just bleed more, and…"

_Sweet Chaos, Eggman. You are a total ass._

"Just do what you gotta do," the hedgehog said.

"Pain hurts less on the exhale, by the way," Lucas added. "Apparently. Not sure where I heard that."

"Awesome, I'm afraid to inhale," Sonic muttered. Lucas looked up at his face for a moment, gauging his sincerity. Though discomfort was evident, the grin he was so used to was there, too. Finally, Lucas relaxed into something of a comfort zone in his task. He realized his uneasiness resulted directly from his anticipation of Sonic's responses, and thankfully, Sonic didn't seem to be taking himself all that seriously. Maybe this wouldn't be so horrendous.

Kai recovered from his dizziness and popped up into the event once more. Wanting a closer look at what was going on now, he approached the window, looking at Lucas and then at Sonic. When he saw what Lucas was doing to the hedgehog's hand, he blinked, disturbed and intrigued, and then backed off, determining it would be best to leave them to their own devices for the time being.

"Wait Kai," Lucas said. He didn't look up from his bloody task. "Eggman have any band-aids anywhere? Gauze? …Paper towel?"

The chao nodded, heading off to get some, still looking sufficiently perplexed.

"Got this one," Lucas said after a moment, pulling out the piece of material. Sonic let out a breath neither of them had noticed he was holding. "There we go… Heh, made you sweat a little, did I?"

Sonic laughed. "_You're _sweating more than I am! Can't handle a little blood?"

"Oh, shut up."

"Hey, you started it!"

"Time to continue it," Lucas said, turning over Sonic's other hand and pressing the sharp metal to his skin. Sonic winced.

_Yeah, yeah, it's all well and good that you've finally stopped being so reserved around me since that incident. But now's not a fantastic time to express it._

Lucas made the opening somewhat faster than he had the first time, for which Sonic was grateful. The magnetic plate seemed determined to make up for that, though, stubbornly holding its ground beneath his skin.

"I have to be hurting you right now… This one just doesn't want to move. I think the inside of your hand healed around it or something."

"That's… just… lovely," Sonic managed. Lucas caught onto his pained tone and tried to be gentler, but gentler, of course, meant slower.

Kai returned, this time welcoming himself to Lucas's cell, carrying a first-aid kit bundled up in a thick towel that was probably heavier for him than he was making it look. He offered one of his special little smiles to Sonic, appearing to have realized what was going on.

After the incident, the chao had been the first to gesture to Sonic about removing the magnets.

"Thanks, man," Lucas said to Kai. "Hey, care to help? Could you fix up Sonic's other hand, there for me?"

Kai did so with haste, opening several of the bandages and placing them across the open wound tenderly. When finished, he popped into Sonic's cell, where the majority of his hedgehog friend was located. "Eh… How's it going Kai?" Sonic asked as the chao brushed against his arm in greeting.

"Heya Sonic, this is going to hurt."

"Oh, so you'll tell me about _that _ahead of time."

Lucas looked up. Eye contact. Stupid grin. Check.

"Try not to move. I don't want to lose my grip on it."

"M'kay."

"The thing is, I'm going to have to…"

"Dear Chaos, Lucas. Just _do _it. You're killing me here."

The teasing expression turned into a grimace when Lucas tugged the magnet forcefully. Sonic sucked in air through his teeth, twisting uncomfortably as the thing began to separate from whatever it had been connected to beneath his skin.

"You were supposed to breathe _out _there, not in," Lucas retorted. "Exhales, remember?"

"Oh _quit _it. I can handle this myself." The hedgehog looked back down and would have folded his arms if not for his awkward position. "'Sides, I don't need anyone _else_ trying to dictate when I breathe, m'kay?"

Sonic.

"You're ridiculous," Lucas muttered, trying to hide a mutual grin. "Just trying to help, though. You're doing it wrong."

"'…You're doing it wrong?'" Sonic repeated. His toes curled as Lucas continued fiddling with the magnet. "Really, you're going to throw lines like that at me while you're pulling a chunk of metal out of my hand?"

Lucas broke into a fit of laughter. Sonic laughed at him laughing. Quietly, Kai fluttered toward the hedgehog's hand where the flat magnetic strip was still sticking halfway out and pulled on it quickly.

"_Rrrgh! _Oh, jeez Kai, what'd _I _ever do to you?" Sonic remarked. For a second the chao looked somewhat self-conscious, but then Sonic smiled. "Hey, I'm just messing with ya, pal! At least _some_one is trying to make this quick."

Lucas gave him a haha-funny look. "You want them out or not?"

"Yeah, yeah. But let's not make it a day-long endeavor, hm?"

"It'd certainly kill some time," Lucas mumbled with a smirk.

"Huh?"

"What?"

"Oh, thought you said something sarcastic under your breath. My mistake."

"Yup, your mistake. Hey Kai, other hand?"

The chao already had band-aids at the ready this time. Gently, he wiped blood away with his free hand, then stuck them on neatly. Sonic gingerly massaged the sore area.

"Want a break?" Lucas asked in a tone that sounded teasing on the surface, but beneath which was some level of genuine concern.

"No way." Sonic winked. "We're already halfway done, and I feel fine anyway. Thanks though."

Lucas reached down for one of the hedgehog's feet, turning it a little to examine it. "Sonic?" he asked after a moment, dark eyebrows going downward in a frown. "The ones in your feet are just outside the Achilles tendons. I'll have to take my time so I don't go too deep or hit the wrong thing. I know it's worth the trade-off for ya, but I figured I should let you know so you don't think I'm_ trying_ to be an ass or anything."

"Well, what're you waiting for, then? It's worth the trade-off a million times over. Let's do it." _Oh frick oh frick oh frick. Got this. I got this._

"Thought you'd say something like that. Okay. Just try and stay still. I don't want to do anything that'll keep you from being able to run."

"…Because I have anywhere to run right now," Sonic muttered.

"You know what I mean." Lucas dropped to his knees, putting himself at the level of Sonic's feet, and removed his shoes. "So hey, do these things help you go fast? Can't believe I forgot to ask that until now. People hear a lot of rumors about your shoes."

"Not exactly," Sonic said. "They're made especially for protection, otherwise the friction at the speed of sound would tear my feet apart. They've got nothing to do with the speed, though. People _do _know that, right?"

"Most of 'em," Lucas said. "Like I said, rumors."

"Well, if there was some speed mechanism in the shoes, why would I be the only one _with _them?" As he felt Lucas touch the back of his foot, he moved it involuntarily in a knee-jerk reaction, avoiding the anticipated pain.

"Kai, hold this leg still for me, Sonic's a little jumpy."

"Yeah, Kai, I might accidentally kick him in the face." Sonic twitched his leg intentionally now, just enough to make Lucas flinch back. "Oh, sorry. A little jumpy?"

"I hate you."

"All right, all right, sor_ry_." Sonic chuckled tentatively, looking down at him. "Truce for now so you don't chop my foot off?"

Lucas laughed. "Yeah, okay."

They both fell silent, Kai still fluttering around in their midst.

Sonic let his head fall back, closing his eyes. He felt a bead of sweat run off one of his quills and a droplet of blood trail down his heel as Lucas drew the makeshift blade across his skin again. He was right; it was close to the Achilles tendon, and they had to be careful. There would be an abundant amount of time for picking on each other later. Now, his focus had to be on keeping still.

When he opened his eyes again, Kai drifted into his field of vision, still holding the magnet he had helped remove. He looked at Sonic meaningfully, then tossed it on the ground. The hedgehog chuckled gently. "'S right, pal."

A few seconds passed uneventfully, Kai making content circles around his head. Then pain seared into his foot, making his face contort in sudden agony. Kai murmured something incomprehensibly, but the tone conveyed consolation.

"Steady, Sonic," Lucas said. "You all right?"

"Ehehe, no sweat," Sonic replied, sweating. He bit his lower lip, trying to ignore the tugging going on below. "This is a non-issue."

"If you say so…"

Looking like he remembered something, Kai squeezed out of Sonic's cell and zipped away down the hall. Lucas paused in his motions to watch him go. "Jeez. What's that all about?"

"Maybe he's just getting another towel?" Sonic suggested. "Didn't seem like anything was wrong."

"Yeah, I hope not," Lucas said. "Hey, this foot's not bleeding as much, by the way. I'm having a hard time getting it out, if you can't tell, but it's actually pretty close to the surface. I'm surprised it didn't break through your skin when it was holding you to the wall. Guess you're thick… -skinned."

Sonic didn't respond, again trying to figure out if that was a compliment or an insult.

"Okay, anyway. I'm going to keeping working on getting it out. You cool?"

"Like a cucumber," Sonic said lightly. "Breeze on a hot day. Lemonade with ice. Holoska."

"…Heat stroke."

The hedgehog blinked. "…Well played. _Mmph-!_"

"Three down, one to go."

Sonic looked down through the bars, watching Lucas dab at his foot with the towel. "Won't miss _that _one, I gotta say."

"Me neither. Everything feeling right? Aside from the obvious, I mean."

Sonic rotated his foot, making sure everything still worked. "Yup, sure."

"So, Sonic, I was wondering about something," Lucas said as he wrapped a bandage around the hedgehog's ankle. "I get the impression Eggman wasn't always this bad. I mean, from what you've told me, and what I've heard on the news and stuff… but then again, I guess I've never been directly involved in Eggman's plot before, so maybe I wouldn't know." He wiped his hands on a clean part of the towel and again picked up the piece of metal. "What changed?"

The blue blur relaxed the muscles in his leg, letting his foot hang limply as Lucas worked on it. Ironically, it was easier to not move if he didn't put an active effort _into _not moving_._ "He wasn't really all that different," he said. "It just wasn't quite to this extent before. Creep never gives up, though. His _last _plan involved killing Amy if I didn't bring him a Chaos Emerald quick enough. Never mind the fact I had to bring it through a _freaking space maze_."

"Would he actually have done it?"

Sonic shrugged. "Couldn't exactly wait around to find out. I'm not sure."

"I'm guessing you found some way around giving him the Emerald and still managed to save Amy, right?"

"Actually, no," the hedgehog said. "I mean, yeah, I saved Amy, but I didn't get around the rest of it. Thing is, he only gave me a few minutes, and I was halfway across Space Colony ARK at the time. So I had to act fast. There wasn't really time to do anything else. It's one thing to – ow – it's one thing to do things your way when you can, but not when someone's life is at stake like that."

"So you gave it to him, then?"

"I gave him a _fake _Emerald that Tails made. Thought I was really clever, doing it that way, but it turns out he had a trap for me too." Sharp pain pierced into his foot again and he paused for a second to let it pass, unintentionally accentuating the suspense of his story. "This capsule thing appeared around me, and he launched me into space. Barely had time to react, which is weird. Usually I'm the fast one, not Eggman."

It was the shortened version of the predicament. He left out the more specific details, like telling Tails it was up to him now, and Amy breaking down completely. He didn't want to remember the devastated looks on their faces that day.

"How did you survive?" Lucas asked, stopping what he was doing momentarily to let Sonic finish the story comfortably.

"I caused Chaos Control… with the fake Emerald. It teleported me back onto Space Colony ARK, even though it was never meant to have those abilities. I mean, Tails created it using some of the properties of a real one, but it still never should have been able to do that. Even now, we don't get it. But I'm just glad it worked."

"Yeah," Lucas said, wondering about that mystery somewhere in the back of his head, "me too. Had to have been scary."

"I thought I was through. I know it sounds crazy with how many messes I get myself into, but it's not very often I think like that. I mean, I always know it's a _possibility_, but…"

"But there's a difference between possibility and reality."

"Yeah… exactly." Sonic's jade eyes drifted away from the moment briefly, and Lucas swore he could see exactly what the hedgehog was thinking about. It only lasted an instant before he fell back into the present, meeting his gaze. "Having trouble with that one?"

"What? Oh." The man remembered he hadn't finished his task yet and looked back down. "Eh, looks like we're saving the best for last," he muttered. "And by best, I of course mean worst."

"What's wrong?" Sonic asked him, more curious than worried, though there was a little of that too.

"It's… crooked. I can't just slide it straight out like the others. I'll have to either try to turn it so the narrow side can come through the cut, or cut you open a little more. Deeper. Hopefully it won't be bad enough for you to need stitches or anything, since bandaging your wounds is about the best we can do in here. I'll be as careful as I can though."

Sonic appeared oddly rigid. "For future reference, I don't really care for vivid descriptions of things that are about to cause me a lot of pain. You could have just left it at it's crooked and this is gonna hurt."

Lucas pointed at him with one finger. "I'll take note of that. Because, you know, me practically operating on you is likely to be a regular thing and all."

"Oh, stop it, you."

The man laughed lightly. "Will do. Brace yourself."

"Will do."

Instead of attempting any further conversation, Lucas got right to the gruesome task, trying to make it as quick as he could for the hedgehog. For his part, Sonic managed to suppress what would have very likely been a scream, but not the strained, tortured "Ow…" that worked its way out from the back of his throat.

"Twenty seconds," Lucas said firmly, encouragingly, almost as though he was making it a game. His manner had changed completely from when he had first started the task. He had gone from uncertain and worried to accepting and strong. Sonic wanted his help. Sonic had put faith in him. "Give me twenty seconds. Trust me. I'll get it out."

The blue blur, ever willing, played along and gave a nervy thumbs-up. "N-no worries…"

"You're doing fine, Sonic."

Fifteen seconds.

Pressure. Pushing. Cutting. Hot agony that felt deeper than it was. It took everything not to pull his foot away or… well, kick Lucas in the face, as conveniently as it was located. He grasped at the imagery of that funny-because-you'd-never-do-it notion, trying to amuse himself. But making an active effort to ignore the pain made it even harder not to.

Ten seconds.

Lucas was pressing around the gash, trying to right the magnet from the outside. Blood gushed from the back of his foot, and continued its journey down the arch to finally drip off toes curled with tension, leaving a trail of sticky, splotchy red in his fur. He could picture exactly what Lucas was doing, thanks to his words previously. Could feel each motion causing more blood to ooze out in unnervingly heavy bursts. It was correlated perfectly with the pain. The bad kind of pain. The kind that felt on the verge of danger.

Five seconds.

He wanted to pull his foot back and stop the flow of blood with his own hands and massage the hurt away. But he couldn't, not yet. They had to get the last magnet out. He would trust Lucas… and himself. It was almost over either way. If he was bleeding as badly as he _felt _like he was, Lucas would do something about it. So it couldn't be that bad. It just seemed that way to him. Only slow seconds left. If Lucas couldn't get it, he would stop, and they would try again in a bit. One way or the other, it would work out soon enough.

Finally, the thing came loose all at once. His eyes dilated and he pulled back involuntarily, making Lucas suck in his breath in surprise. While they were reacting, the small magnet clattered to the floor.

"…Ouch."

"Well said."

That elicited a hearty laugh from the hedgehog, who reached up and wiped sweat from above his eyes. Meanwhile, Lucas was already holding another towel to the open wound, trying to slow the blood flow with hard pressure. "It's okay, it's okay," the man breathed in relief. "You're losing some blood but it's not as bad now that I've stopped messing with it. Man, you clot fast."

"I guess I do everything fast," Sonic said, still breathless from the draining experience, but otherwise fine.

"Well look," Lucas said, wiping his hands off on a black cloth Kai had brought, "we're all done here. I'd set these magnets near that panel in case someone activates them again. Wouldn't want them to slice through you on their way there or something."

"Sweet, thanks a lot," said the blue blur, pulling his legs back through the bars and hopping down. He caught sight of Lucas wiping his hands and crossed his arms, strumming his fingers on the opposite shoulder playfully like he was impatient for the wet rag to make its leave. Just then, Kai came back into his cell, managing to get a plate full of syrupy pancakes in there with him. "What's _this_?" Sonic asked, grinning as the chao handed him the delicious looking meal. "Oh man! Do you have any idea how long it's been since I had something _good_?"

Lucas actually looked mildly hurt. Kai held up a tiny finger, then left Sonic's cell, disappearing again. Fortunately, he was gone for only a few seconds this time, retrieving another plate that he had set down in the hallway just outside of Lucas's view. Smiling, he handed it to Lucas through the bars and went, "Shhh."

Lucas grinned. "Now _this _is how it should have been the first time you brought me a pancake, Kai, eh? Doesn't look like Eggman's gonna have a great morning, does it?"

Sonic was just about to ask Kai if he had brought himself any breakfast, when the chao snagged one of the smaller pancakes from Lucas's plate and took a bite, looking up at him playfully.

For a peaceful period of time, things were just perfect. The magnets had been removed, Sonic hadn't lost too much blood, and the panel that had posed him the biggest challenge he had ever faced was now little more than an inanimate, useless chunk of wall. They swallowed down their (extra) breakfast in relative comfort.

"Man, Sonic. You don't even look tired."

Sonic shrugged. "We just got up an hour ago, didn't we?"

"Are you deliberately missing my point?"

"Uh, no?"

"Never mind," Lucas said, shaking his head. "The important thing is you've got one more level of freedom than you had yesterday."

"Works for me." Sonic kept eating. Lucas, for some reason he couldn't quite pinpoint, had expected a more enthusiastic response than that. As he studied the hedgehog, he realized why that might have been. Sonic had rarely looked any less comfortable than he did right now, magnets or no magnets. Like he was free in his mind even if not physically. Like he'd been that way all along and the magnets being removed was just the physical world catching up to his mindset.

Smiling slightly, Lucas turned back to Kai and their plate of pancakes. He didn't know exactly how Sonic had worked himself out psychologically, only that he had. And that was what mattered. That and, just as they had yesterday, they had taken one small step closer to success.

Of course, that tended to be the moment when things went wrong.

"Lucas."

Lucas's gaze snapped to Sonic, who had just whispered to him sharply. Just from the look in those green eyes, he knew better than to say anything. But his own eyes asked the question for him: _What's wrong?_

"Listen. Eggman."

They couldn't make out the words. But that was most definitely Doctor Eggman's voice somewhere down the hallway, apparently coming toward them. Unless he had been nearby all along.

"Kai," Sonic said quietly, "you gotta leave, bud. You're the only one who can."

Eggman had said yesterday he would be back for both of them. None of them had forgotten. Regardless, the chao shook his head.

"It's okay. No magnets, remember? It's okay, Kai. I promise you." Sonic realized he was always making promises to people lately. Reassurances. "Please."

After a moment of heartbreaking deliberation, the chao did, making eye contact with both Lucas and Sonic before doing so as if letting them know he wouldn't be far.

Lucas shifted his gaze. In the brief moment before Sonic realized he was being glanced at, the man could have sworn he looked afraid. Even if just a little.

Magnets or not, Eggman was a different kind of threat than he had ever been before. And the blue blur was still trapped.

"Heya Lucas," Sonic said. "Know what's going on?"

"No idea, Sonic."

They both waited, frozen, prepared. But Eggman stormed by their cells without even giving a passing glance.

xxx

"_We just have to face it." –Sonic, SatSR_

xxx

_In Chapter 21: Espio encounters Knuckles on a lower floor and tells him everything. Their discussion brings about some answers and more questions. And Knuckles has some news to share himself…_

xxx

Gotta admit, I had oodles of fun with this chapter. XD Particularly with the dialogue. The situation provided a lot of opportunities for fun dialogue.

After three Sonic chapters, we'll finally take a look at how other characters are doing again next chapter. Haven't seen much of Knuckles since the end-ish of chapter 10, so it's about time. 0.0

Oh, and also, this story just topped 100k words. I've never actually done that before. :3

Later! Thanks for reading! :)


	22. Chapter 21: Rendezvous with Reality

Since a few people asked about Sonic's little Holoska reference last chapter: yeah, it was intentional even though Unleashed hasn't happened yet. Sure, Sonic's never been there but that doesn't mean he doesn't know about it, right? It exists in his world like Antarctica exists in ours. ;)

Sorry about the slightly late update. This chapter's lots of dialogue, which I guess could be good or bad depending on what you like (and who you like, lol). Enjoy~

CHAPTER 21: RENDEZVOUS WITH REALITY

"Knuckles."

The red echidna twitched out of his slumber and looked up. "Espio?" he mumbled. Knuckles looked tired, and way less energetic than Espio had remembered. His dreadlocks and fur were unkempt and his eyes, while focused and alert, didn't look quite as young as they had before.

He was thin. Not dangerously so, but enough to make Espio wonder what had changed between the top floor and this one.

"Aren't you supposed to be invisible?" Knuckles asked.

Espio was standing in the hallway, the violet light on the ceiling highlighting the appearance of his equally violet scales. He was slightly taller than the gate, and Knuckles could make eye contact with him through the bars. "After everything that's occurred, that is all you have to say to me?"

"Consider yourself lucky you're one of the people I _don't _have much to say to," Knuckles remarked, sitting up to lean against the cool metal wall.

Espio rested a hand against one of the bars. "I am not camouflaging right now, because I don't see a need on the lower levels. There are very few androids down here – for whatever reason – and I needed a break from that anyway."

"Yeah, okay."

"You seem irritable."

"Do I?" Knuckles shot to his feet, fire in his eyes. "The Master Emerald is in danger. I've been stuck in this place for _months _with a bunch of unresponsive robots. And I'm not only talking about the _robots_."

Espio glanced around at the nearby prisoners, even though he had observed them before. "That bad?"

"Yes, that bad. It's like this place just sucked the life force out of them. But you already know that, don't you? Looks like you've been roaming around the place."

Espio nodded.

"Then you probably also know that the floors just _below _me consist of people who for sure can't use Chaos energy. They're useless to Eggman's cause, but he won't get rid of them because he thinks they'd reveal his plans to the world." The echidna laughed once bitterly. "I don't think any of them would breathe a word. The way they're treated, I wouldn't be surprised if some of them come out of this screwed up. _If _they come out of this, that is."

"I made my way through Meka Tower quickly the first time around in search of Sonic and anyone else I knew who might be in here," Espio said. "I didn't see you because you're in a branch hallway off the spiral, so I apologize for not finding you sooner. Also at the time I don't believe conditions were this bad, so I didn't think much of it. Instead I searched for allies and answers, figuring the solution was more important than the cause."

"That got you far, didn't it?"

Espio didn't dignify that with a response. "It looks like things have gotten more horrendous. But at the moment there's not much I can do." He paused. "What about you?"

"Me? Well… this is the start of the middle floors, I guess. From here on up are people that Eggman and his droids have determined can use Chaos energy, even though most of them don't have any skill with it. I—"

"Why are you not higher up, then? It seems as though you would have been placed higher up, since you are quite strong and there is more security up there."

Knuckles gave a half-shrug. "Eggman probably doesn't want Sonic and I anywhere near each other. He knows that if one of us were to get out, we'd try to free the other." He glowered into the floor for a moment. "And he's right."

Espio blinked, surprised for a moment before realizing that despite everything, that made perfect sense. Knuckles didn't always… _like _Sonic. But he respected him. Cared for him. Of course he would free the hedgehog if he could. Even now.

"What have you been doing, then?"

"I am trying to discover how to free the prison," Espio answered concisely.

The guardian shook his head. "You were free, and you come in here willingly."

"It was not a decision I made lightly," the detective assured him.

"You said you already made your way through this huge place once. How long have you _been _here?"

"A little over two weeks."

"That's quite a while for not being able to make much progress." Significance flitted across Knuckles's indigo eyes. "So you were here when…"

"Yes. Sonic."

"Yes."

Somehow that was explanation enough.

"Can you get back out of the prison at all?" Knuckles asked, abruptly changing the subject. Espio wondered why he didn't ask if Sonic was okay. Then again, Knuckles had known the blue blur for a long time. Maybe he already knew the answer.

"No. Obviously I have not been caught yet, but I don't know what to do from here either. Before, I would have expected Eggman to have some kind of control room on the top floor, but I'm not sure now. I found a room up there that looks like it got torn apart by a tornado, and then another steel door above it that I couldn't open. There could be something important behind it I suppose. Sonic is being held up on that floor, and I was starting to think it would be too risky on Eggman's part to have a control room so close to him, but…"

"What made you think it was on the top floor to begin with, then? I mean, it could be anywhere. A steel door doesn't really mean anything. Especially since Sonic's on that same floor, like you said."

Espio looked at him meaningfully. "I was going to say that I no longer believe the control room has anything to do with freeing Sonic."

"Well… why call it a control room if it won't open the cells?"

"I didn't say it wouldn't open the rest of the cells. Just that it wouldn't open Sonic's. The front of his cell, the locking area, was designed differently than the rest. It has a visible keyhole. I am not sure if he knows this. But I get the impression Eggman has a key somewhere for Sonic's cell specifically." For a tense moment, Knuckles just stared at him. Espio saw disturbed realization in his face, and wondered if he had missed something. "Knuckles?"

"Espio…" the echidna said quietly. "What if the key is not even in Meka Tower?"

"I… I admit I hadn't thought of that."

"You talk as if you think you can free Sonic from in here. What if you can't? And for that matter, what if you can't free _anyone _from inside? Eggman has great technology, you know. I'm sure he'd have a way to…"

"Tails and Amy are still outside this place. If it comes to it, I'll contact them and inform them. Right now, I need to find out what I can from in here."

Knuckles crossed his arms. "You have no idea what you're doing."

"And you can't travel more than ten feet. I'll be doing more than you will."

"Espio… I am not in the mood for this argument."

"Then don't start it," the chameleon said curtly. "I should inform you, by the way, that Tails is doing your job right now. He has secured the Master Emerald—"

"Don't tell me where."

Espio nodded. "I know better than to tell anyone anything."

"I'd be the first one Eggman would expect to know, too. We've lost enough already, with everything that's happened and as much progress as he's made… he _cannot _get his hands on the Master Emerald. The fewer people know where it is, the less chance he has of finding out." He paused. "Do _you_ know?"

"No. Only Tails and Amy know."

The echidna closed his eyes, showing fear for the first time. "I hope they stay well away from this place."

"I've told them to more than once. I think Tails anyway has grasped that the best thing he can do is take care of himself, Amy, and the Master Emerald. We all have a part to play, and theirs is best left outside the prison."

"Sounds like he's doing a decent job."

Espio smiled slightly. "Tails is actually a much more capable teammate than I gave him credit for initially. I came to his home looking for Sonic, since he tends to stop by there more often than he does anywhere else. I wasn't counting on Sonic being there but figured Tails would be able to direct me to him. He didn't know where he was, though."

"_Nobody _knows where he is all the time, even Tails. He's too free and too damn stubborn to have it any other way, either." The echidna glared angrily for a moment. "Anyway."

"Anyway, if not for Tails and Amy, I would have had a much harder time learning that you were in fact in the prison… not on Angel Island like I originally thought." Espio held up a finger, seeing the question in Knuckles's eyes. "I'll explain what I mean later; let me finish. That's the least of it. Without their aid, I probably would not have been able to sneak in here, and the Master Emerald certainly would not be safe right now. To be frank, they are more reliable than I imagine Sonic would have been."

Knuckles snorted. "Sonic would have dove headfirst into everything and screwed things up more than they already are. Oh, wait, he already _did _that."

"How has he made things worse?"

"I thought it was obvious. Don't you understand that _he's _the reason security is so high up there? I bet you that torn-apart room you were talking about was his work, just making a mess of everything like he always does. That's why everyone down here is in such bad shape. No one gets taken care of because the androids are the ones that give everyone food, and they're all up there babysitting Sonic. This whole thing is Sonic's fault."

For a moment, Espio stood there, genuinely stunned. He was a detective, but that was one connection he hadn't made. Sonic was the reason there were so few androids down here.

Sonic was the reason so many of these people were starving and suffering.

"No." Espio shook his head, trying to make sense of it. "That… that can't be. It can't be that simple."

"If you truly believed that, you'd have a reason why by now," Knuckles shot back.

"But from what I've seen up there, Sonic is not the only one who warrants high security."

"What do you mean by that?"

"The people up there actually have some drive to fight, and they don't know any better than Sonic does or than I did until just now. The top floor is where Eggman put those who were uncooperative, or who tried to escape in the beginning, in addition to those who can access Chaos energy."

"Makes sense," the echidna muttered reluctantly. "They won't be able to escape very easily from up there."

"You're very quick to blame Sonic."

"Yeah, well, even if you're right… he doesn't _think_. He has no regard for consequences, and doesn't even realize that his recklessness brings harm to more people than just himself."

"I agree with you wholeheartedly there," Espio said, "but regardless, Sonic shielded these same people from what could have been an even worse fate. He deserves credit for that much." Knuckles nodded once in grim agreement. Espio continued on. "Besides, we have other things to discuss. Now is not the time to debate over Sonic."

"Yeah, okay. So what were you saying about Tails and Amy?"

Espio frowned. "I guess I had finished the thought. Right now Tails and Amy are keeping close watch on the Master Emerald. She is staying at his workshop so neither of them gets caught off-guard alone by androids or the like. I think he turned a communicator on and left it at the Master Emerald's location, so even when he has to be at home, he will hear any commotion there might be in the area."

"As soon as I get out of here, I'll be taking back over," Knuckles grumbled. "It needs constant protection. I know Tails has other things he's gotta do, but that doesn't change that fact. The Master Emerald's my duty and it's shameful that a kid is out there having to keep tabs on it while I can't."

Espio glanced to his left, then to his right; a quick, second-nature survey to ensure no androids were around. He was met with glares from several prisoners, as if they were angry at him for being free. Ignoring them, he faced the echidna again. "After everything he has done so far, I dare say the fox is more than capable of watching the Emerald. But this isn't really about him, is it? It's about that echidna honor of yours."

"You should know the validity of a reason like that better than anyone," Knuckles snapped. "Are you not dedicated to your ninja lifestyle as well? And either way, does it matter? The Master Emerald is _my _responsibility, not his, and it's that simple."

"You could not have foreseen what happened, just as Sonic couldn't have foreseen how trying to weaken Eggman's forces would weaken these prisoners as well," Espio said. "Blaming yourself now is unproductive at best."

"Who cares? Why don't you tell me something I can do that's more productive, hm?" He gestured to the walls surrounding him.

Espio shrugged indifferently. "Okay. I guess I'm done here then."

"Hey, come on," Knuckles said as the detective began to walk away. "Don't be that way, Espio."

"You're the one being that way," Espio said calmly, but nevertheless returned to where he had been standing. "Now would you like me to finish getting you in the know?"

"Yes," the echidna said irritably. "And stop patronizing me."

"I have my communicator. You could speak with Tails or Amy if I infuriate you so much."

The guardian frowned. "No thanks. At least, not this very minute. They don't deserve the kind of crap I'm giving you right now."

"Implying that I do?"

"No," Knuckles admitted. "But you can handle it. Those two are kids. Tails would be discouraged and think I'm giving up – which I'm _not – _and Amy would take personal offense. Heaven forbid I make one off-color remark about her 'boyfriend.' She'd probably find some way to attack me through the communicator." He shook his head. "And don't even get me going on Sonic again."

"…You're not going to like all these new developments much," Espio told him.

"Imagine that," Knuckles said dryly. "Try me."

"Until very recently, there was another echidna guarding the Master Emerald, impersonating you."

"_What?"  
><em>

"Well, that went slightly better than I expected."

"Are you taking the piss?" Knuckles demanded, throwing his arms out in exasperation. "I'm the last echidna!"

"Which is why I was going to suggest it is probably some kind of advanced robot. I was not able to get close enough to tell, and as far as I know, Amy and Tails haven't either."

"Damn straight it's a robot. I'm the one and only. It must have been the work of Eggman. I bet that bastard thought he could be inconspicuous by doing it like that. If he'd have just upped and taken the Master Emerald like he usually does, the island would have fallen and people would have known something was up. As it was…"

"As it was, Eggman was able to get this far in his prison project without anyone realizing it. His luck has run out now in that respect, but for all we know it could be too late. No one knows for sure what he's up to, or how he plans to use the Chaos Emeralds and Master Emerald in the future.

"You have to find out, Espio. If you can't free us, that's the next best thing. Spy on him, or whatever."

"I was already planning on that," the chameleon said.

"An impersonator… I don't believe this." Knuckles shook his head. "Eggman's got a lot of nerve, doing that! When I get my hands on him he'll never want to go anywhere near Angel Island again!"

"I'd love to give you that chance, believe me," Espio said. "But it may be a while."

"I hate not knowing what's going on."

"As do I. But what we do know is that the Master Emerald is safe, and Tails will inform me immediately if that status changes. That is what's most important here. It trumps whatever we don't know."

Knuckles ignored him. "Has anything been done about that faker?" As he asked, he was reminded of a certain black hedgehog from several months ago. _Damn, gotta give Sonic that much. It's infuriating being impersonated._

"Not yet. He's not a priority right now."

"Why _not?_ If he was 'guarding' the Master Emerald for Eggman, he'd go after Tails to try and get it again, wouldn't he?"

"Yes, and that's why it's more prudent to have Tails watching the Master Emerald. Would you have me send Amy off to fight the imposter by herself?"

"What about the rest of _your_ team?"

"They're working on it, but they're having a hard time even _surviving _right now. The agency is all we have, and thanks to _this _place, a high percentage of our potential clients have been lost."

At this news, Knuckles appeared to mellow down a bit. His expression became less dangerous and settled to a quiet grimness. "Sorry to hear that. I wish I could do something. I'm supposed to be fighting, too."

"If you want to do something, talk to Tails and Amy. I'm sure they would like to know that you're okay. And since you're indeed the _real _Knuckles, you may be able to give them some insight as to how to stop the fake one."

"Does it fight like I do?"

"Very much so, from what we've seen. If you could give them pointers on your fighting style, just in case they have to fight it before you can…"

"Okay, okay, give me the communicator." Espio did, and Knuckles strapped it on his wrist. "What, are you just going to stand there and listen to me blabber to them?"

Espio put his hands out defensively, raising his eyebrows as he turned to walk away. "I'll be back in ten minutes or whatever."

"Tails," Knuckles snapped into the communicator.

"Ah, hello?" the fox said tentatively after a moment, not recognizing his voice past the gruff irritability.

"Hey," he tried again, calmer. "Er… how's things."

"Knuckles!" Tails exclaimed loudly, and the echidna had to move the communicator a little further from his face. "Are you in the prison? Are you okay? Are you… real?"

"Yes to all of the above," he answered. "Glad to know you are too. But listen, I don't want to waste much of your time so let's skip the hugs and kisses, okay?"

The fox chuckled. "Right," he said, settling down, but the joy was still lingering under the surface of his voice. "So what's up?"

"Do you really believe the Master Emerald is safe?"

There was silence from Tails's end, as if he couldn't tell whether Knuckles's tone was mocking or genuine. "It's… it's as safe as I feel I can make it," he said finally, and then, even more quietly: "And that's probably not nearly enough."

Despite the inadequacy in the kitsune's voice, Knuckles didn't back down. Not yet. "Who knows its location?"

"Me and Amy. Why, do you want to—?"

"No. Don't tell me. Don't tell anyone else where it is. Vector, Charmy, anyone. I used to think I knew what Eggman's bounds were, but having been inside this place for months, I'm not so certain anymore. I don't know what he'd do if he knew someone else was aware of the Master Emerald's location, but I have reason to believe it's nothing good, and I don't want that uncertainty to be validated. But the fact of the matter, Tails, is that Eggman _knows _of most of the people who are usually involved with you and Sonic."

"Most of the people who are usually involved with _us_," Tails interrupted, editing the guardian's statement to include him.

"Yeah, whatever. The point is, don't tell anyone, because we don't want Eggman to catch wind of it. Okay?"

"I won't, Knuckles."

"Okay." He took a breath. "I'm sorry if I'm sounding like a total jerk, Tails, but things are serious. Don't let Sonic try to convince you they're not."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tails asked defensively. The stubborn glare was almost audible in the fox's tone. When he continued to speak, though, some of the edge gave way to insecurity. "Are you trying to say there's something he's not telling me?"

"Tails. _Sonic._" Knuckles said exasperatedly, as if that somehow explained everything. When he received an earful of silence, he elaborated impatiently: "He wouldn't talk to you like this. He wouldn't tell you how it is, not out of a desire to protect you or anything – well, maybe a little – but because he doesn't _see _it how it is!"

"…I wish people would stop telling me things like that. Why can't you or Espio or anyone just let Sonic act how he wants, and see things how he wants?"

"Because it's his recklessness up there that's causing problems for Meka Tower down here," Knuckles answered curtly.

"What?"

"Never mind, this is our issue, not yours."

"You can't just say never mind after that!"

"Yes I can, and I am. Worry about the Master Emerald and that stupid imposter, and when things are safe again we'll talk about Sonic."

"That could be months."

"Exactly. Which is why you should get a jump on things if we're to get anywhere. Listen, kid, Sonic didn't screw up intentionally, and to be fair it's a mistake even a careful person might have made. We've all screwed up somewhere in this mess. It's not important right now."

Ignoring his comrade's hint to drop the subject, Tails said in a quiet voice: "Sonic can handle his screw-ups better than most of us."

"Do we really want to take the conversation in this direction, Tails?" Knuckles asked, making a tremendous effort to soften his tone and succeeding only marginally. He didn't want to argue anymore, least of all with the kid who was trying his best to protect the Master Emerald in his absence. "Because if you're going to play the Sonic's-tough card right now…"

"I'd defend you in front of him just the same if he was saying bad things about you," the fox muttered.

_Well, I tried. _"Tails, here's what you need to understand about Sonic. He's no more able to do anything than you or me; he just throws himself into situations before even _considering_ whether he's 'tough' enough to handle it like a normal person would. Stop idolizing him, or it'll let you down one day."

"I don't idolize him! He's my friend!"

"You can idolize friends."

"If I idolized him, I'd probably have been just as thoughtless as he was and gotten myself trapped in Meka Tower by now, wouldn't I?"

Knuckles was struck silent.

"Are you happy now, Knuckles?" the fox continued, sounding defeated. "Happy to hear me say he was thoughtless, and _reckless, _and stupid? Well he was. But that doesn't mean he doesn't know what he's doing now. And he'll never give up either way." His voice began to regain some of its usual energy and friendliness as he continued, "Knuckles, you're the same way, you know. You have that quality too. You're really strong like he is. You just… you just…"

"I just tend _not _to opt for endangering myself and others when I can help it?"

"…Yeah, sure," the fox conceded. "And sometimes the way you do things helps us out when Sonic's way can't, and vice-versa. I know you don't always see eye-to-eye with him, but I wish you'd stop being angry with him and me, because... because… we need you too, Knuckles."

The echidna's voice finally softened as he said, "You do, do ya?"

"Yeah!"

"Well… I'm always around, kid. I'll do what I can to help you stop Eggman and this ridiculous imposter." _So save some of him for me._

"I knew you would," Tails said. "So what were you going to tell me before?"

Knuckles grinned. "Well, chances are you'll encounter that guy at some point, especially when you have what he _thinks _he's supposed to be guarding. And if you're going to have any chance of defending the Master Emerald, you're going to need to know how he fights. How _I _fight."

xxx

Espio sighed, watching from right in front of Knuckles's cell, though the echidna of course had no idea that he had come back. Another several minutes passed before the two were done talking. Though Tails's communicators tended to have a long-lasting battery, he was beginning to grow concerned about the device. It wouldn't last forever. And it was their only link to the huge world outside Meka Tower. Sometimes he felt like this place was all there was anymore.

When they finally terminated the connection, the chameleon abruptly made himself visible, and would be smug for many years that he made Knuckles the echidna, guardian of the Master Emerald and protector of Angel Island, jump.

xxx

"You were listening the whole time, you bastard."

"Me? No. I have only been listening for the last fifteen minutes."

Knuckles blinked. "How many minutes were we talking?"

"Sixteen," Espio replied. "Can I have my communicator back?"

"Here," the echidna said, handing the thing to him through the bars. "Glad all that's settled anyway. Told him to tell Amy everything I told him, and…"

"I know, I was here."

"And he said he would. Hopefully those two can hold the fort for now."

Something caught Espio's eye and he looked down the hall. "An android is coming. Guess I'll have to phase again."

"Nah, just get out of here. Doesn't look like either of us are leaving Meka Tower anytime soon. We'll talk more later if we need to."

Espio nodded. "Okay."

"And Espio?" Knuckles fixed his gaze, looking a lot more ready and mentally awake than he had earlier. There was hope after all… but it was stretched thin. "Don't get caught. For everyone's sake, don't get caught."

xxx

"_As far back as I can remember, I've been living here on this dark island… Always guarding the Master Emerald from anything that could harm it. I don't know why I was given this job, why it was my fate – destined to be here, forever." -Knuckles, Sonic Adventure_

xxx

_IN CHAPTER 22: With the magnets removed, the androids dwindling, and Eggman apparently gone, Sonic and Lucas realize their progress is all but stunted until they can find a way to actually escape. The things they've been able to accomplish thus far were really only preventatives against the worse possibilities lingering in the darkness. And speaking of the mad doctor, just what is he up to, anyway? One genius idea leads to another and soon even his backup plans have backup plans!_

xxx

Ehh, not my favorite but I think it turned out pretty well for what it was. *shrugs* Hope you guys liked seeing Knuckles again. His role in the story increases substantially and this was kind of background context for later happenings and discoveries.

Later! :)


	23. Chapter 22: Prophecy

Quite a few references in the first part of this chapter, particularly Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, and even the classics. (Yaaay continuity.) If you're not quite up to speed on that, don't worry about it too much, it's not a major thing right now.

Sorry if updates have been a bit slower lately. It's mostly because I wanted to make the next few chapters a little more substantial than they were the way I had them written before. Hopefully you'll thank me for it later. XD Updates should be regular again real soon.

More Sonic this chapter, and Eggman before that. Not very often thus far we've gotten to hear Eggman's side of things, so hopefully you guys enjoy!

CHAPTER 22: PROPHECY

"I don't understand."

Eggman whirred on the spot and met the android's gaze. Its bright blue eyes provided a small amount of light to the underground ruin they were walking through. The ancient rocky walls were divided occasionally by smoother, indigo partitions, as if the place had been in the process of being renovated and something had stopped its progress. (…Something like massive flooding of a civilization, Eggman guessed.) The ceiling and ground were decorated with the occasional crystal. The place reminded him of something, as if he'd been there before, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"We're seeking a Chaos Emerald," he replied, still looking around. "The signal led us here to these ruins. What more is there to understand?"

"I wasn't referring to the Chaos Emerald," the robot clarified. "On our way here, you were muttering something about Sonic having removed your special magnets. You are going to do nothing about it?"

The doctor pinched his mustache in one finger and began to straighten it repeatedly, appearing a little frustrated. "There is little I can do at the moment."

"What do you mean by that?"

Eggman sighed without looking at the droid. "It was the 'magnets' that have been my avenue of possibilities. Though that hedgehog won't know it, they were infused with small amounts of negative Chaos energy. He doesn't realize how much my hold on him really has slackened because of his masochistic maneuver."

"I dare say leaving them _in _would have been the masochistic maneuver, all things considered, Master."

Eggman gave this some thought, still playing with his mustache. "Touché."

"What, then, did the Chaos energy have to do with this? I thought the magnets were only to immobilize him when you needed to."

"It was the Chaos energy just as much as the physical properties of the magnets that held him to that wall. And had Chaos energy worked the way I thought it did, it would have activated very easily when he tried to draw upon it, since unbeknownst to him it was already inside him. Until that moment it would have remained dormant in those small magnetic plates, not affecting him at all. Even with the setback, though, I was recently in the process of devising another, more… direct approach to controlling our people with the Chaos Emeralds. I won't need those magnets anymore."

"What might that be?"

Eggman held the suspense for a moment and then anticlimactically dropped the subject. "You'll find out. Later."

There was a pause before the android spoke again, as if it was considering whether it dared to inquire about its next thought. "Does it involve torturing Sonic again?"

"Why do you ask?" Eggman demanded skeptically. His attention was divided between the conversation and searching for the Chaos Emerald as he peered idly around, pacing a few steps now and then to get a closer look.

The robot hesitated, if robots could hesitate, before choosing a careful answer. "I would like to be in the know regarding your plans. I can be of more use to you that way. That is all."

"Oh. I thought for a moment that you sounded _reluctant _about such drastic possibilities. I didn't want to make you self-destruct like I did that other android."

"Understandably," said the droid, a bit nervously. "But you have misconstrued my tone, Master."

"…Of course."

"My question, then?"

Eggman turned to make eye contact with the robot as though it were human. "And my answer," he said; "No. Not nearly in the way you are thinking at any rate. There is nothing I can gain from doing such a thing again right now, and if I can't gain from something then doing it is useless to me."

They were both silent then, but it was much longer than what was considered a normal, acceptable silence within conversation. Minutes passed, their discussion sitting in suspension with neither of them entirely sure whether or not it was over. They continued treading forward – the android walking, Eggman drifting in his hovering pod – down the mysterious path.

"I sometimes wonder what I was thinking when I did that to Sonic."

There it was.

The humanoid seemed to process this information for a moment and then came up with a reasonable question: "Do you think you shouldn't have?"

"I cannot say that either. I suppose I wonder… _mostly _not for that hedgehog's well-being anyway, but for my own." He paused. Had he just indirectly admitted to feeling slight _concern _for that annoying rodent? Psh, of course not. He'd thought that when he had Sonic pinned to the panel, too, but only for a split second. Surely it was nothing.

"How so, Master?"

"I suppose it's just that… Am I heading on the same maniacal trajectory that my grandfather was on before he was executed?" Eggman didn't exactly look self-doubting, but his expression was about as close to that as it was ever going to get, a blend of curiosity and ever-so-slight uncertainty. "I've always said I want to rule the world. But once you've harmed someone – _really_ harmed someone – like that, is it suddenly easier to just keep doing so? Will causing others suffering become as easy to me as it was to my grandfather?"

"If the information database you set the H-series up with is accurate, I must point out that Gerald went crazy because he lost his _granddaughter_, someone with whom he shared mutual love and compassion." The android looked at him. "_You_, however, haven't had someone like that in your life to begin with. I don't think your situation is comparable to his."

The doctor looked slightly affronted at that choice of wording and crossed his arms. "That makes _everything _clear now, much appreciated," he said bitterly.

"Perhaps this might help your train of thought: remember the missile you launched at Station Square? That would have killed thousands of people, and you thought nothing of it."

"Ultimately I am glad that the missile was stopped from going off. After all, that would be one less place under my control if it had been destroyed! But perhaps you have a valid point. Nothing has really changed. I've no reason to have a guilty conscience now, especially when my ambitions are finally gaining some ground in reality. Why falter in the midst of such momentum? That is a mistake I am too smart to make!"

"In that case, shouldn't something be done in regards to Sonic? Nothing dramatic for now, mind you," the robot added. "But… we still do not want him escaping, and the only reason I know about his removal of the magnets is because you told me. The other androids don't know, which means they could be caught unawares if they try to secure him for any reason."

Eggman frowned. "A very smart suggestion, even for having been created by me. But no. The androids don't know, but they still would not try to open his cell without securing him first. He will not escape. So for now, we will let him have his little victory; I must admit that hedgehog deserves it. Can we get back to more important matters now?"

"Of course. Sorry for interrupting you."

As they continued on in terse silence, the scientist abruptly realized what was familiar about this place. It reminded him distinctly of the Hidden Palace. He had been there only once before, years ago, and had heard stories about it from Gerald when he was younger. The ancient echidna civilization – the tribe of Knuckles's ancestors – that had perished thousands of years ago had illustrated or written prophecies in ruins like this. In the Hidden Palace, one mural had prophesized a fight between Eggman and Sonic. That, of course, had come to pass many _many _times.

"But how could the ancient echidnas have _known _that would happen?" Eggman murmured to himself. It made no sense with science. It shouldn't have had any validity. But it did. The events that had come to pass in his lifetime were proof enough that prophecy was legitimate. Had the echidnas somehow been able use the Chaos Emeralds to see the future? But then if that was the case, surely, they would have prevented their own demise…?

_Maybe it is a gift. Maybe, like many other Chaos powers, only certain people can use it. Perhaps these certain people are ones who know better than to tell everyone what they know of the future. Or maybe it was Chaos Control, and members of this ancient tribe went forward in time to see what would come to pass…_

It was natural for Eggman to theorize. He wanted to make sense of it. But he knew he couldn't. Sense hadn't been made of it for thousands of years.

Just as he dismissed prophecy from his mind, his android tapped him on the shoulder. "The Chaos Emerald is very close," it informed him, "perhaps within a ten foot radius."

"Is it, now?" the doctor said with a satisfied grin. "Help me locate it."

The two of them began to scan the area, first with their eyes and then their hands. There wasn't much to miss. The only places a Chaos Emerald could possibly hide were within the stalactites and stalagmites piercing the atmosphere every so often. Unless of course there was more to this place beneath them, in which case they might have had a lot more travelling to do…

"Aha!" Doctor Eggman said triumphantly, finding the gem wedged beneath a loose chunk of loosened rock wall. There was a small space nearby where the wall had apparently given out. "We have our fourth Chaos Emerald!"

"Ah, fantastic," the android droned. "And my sensors are picking up a great deal of heat from it! I do believe there might be another Chaos Emerald not too far."

"Here in the Mystic Ruins?" Eggman asked eagerly.

"Not quite here, no. But perhaps beyond them toward one of the nearby forests or jungles. Might I suggest you have our own echidna guardian seek it, since you should probably return to Meka Tower before your absence is noticed?"

"Yes, yes. We'll have _'Knuckles' _find it. I'm glad I thought of that."

"…Of course. Shall we be on our way, then?"

Eggman didn't respond at first, instead suddenly staring into the gap left by the collapsed wall. What _was _that…?

"Master?"

"In a moment…" he answered, distracted, and stepped over the rubble.

The gap led into a larger area, a room much like the one in Hidden Palace in which he had seen Sonic and Knuckles fight all those years ago. In this room, there was very little ruin and much more dark indigo wall, as if whoever had worked on this place had granted highest priority to this specific room. Crystals stuck out of the wall here and there as if they had been not been able to remove them in order to make the wall smooth. Pillars towered in each corner of the room as if to support the ground above the caverns. And like the Hidden Palace, there was a mural on the far side.

The difference was that this one looked far more ancient.

"Oh _my… _What have we got here? I have never known of this before. What an intriguing coincidence."

"Indeed," the robot agreed, following him. Together they got a closer look.

"Save this information in your database and share it amongst other androids when we return. It is very valuable."

"How so, Master?"

"I don't know yet. Let me examine this…"

The mural was spread across a large expanse of the wall, and though its images were ancient, they were large enough to be very clear. "It looks very, very old, perhaps several hundred or maybe a thousand years older than the one depicting Sonic and myself in the Hidden Palace. It is…" he suddenly stopped and lowered his sunglasses to see better. "It is a depiction of the Pachacamac tribe's downfall. Knuckles' ancestors. So indeed these echidnas _did _try to prevent their future demise – but the ones this mural was intended for must never have seen it!"

"Is it some kind of warning?"

"No! Well, yes, but more importantly, it is instructive. See here—" he ran a thick, gloved finger along text on the wall. "These letters, these… these characters. They must _tell _us something. Search your database for a translation. Now!"

The rays of the robot's bright blue gaze funneled outward to capture the text. Silently, it processed the carved words while Eggman waited in antsy eagerness. "The greed of your elders will flood the world in despair," it translated. "If joy is to remain it will only be through one who transcends such selfishness . . . a being who can destroy darkness with light. However, even if one could transcend selfishness, one cannot transcend what is unknown outside of prophecy. If this warning is left undiscovered or unheeded, there will be no way to halt the climax of chaos."

Eggman scratched his chin. "The climax… of _Chaos_. It is referring to the flood. And the being who could transcend selfishness…" he trailed off and gestured to what appeared to be a female echidna carved into the architecture. She was red in color along with everything else – even the Chaos Emeralds and the depiction of Perfect Chaos across the expanse from her. It was as though it had been painted that way on purpose to capture the sense of imminent disaster. "This figure. This represents Tikal, the ancient echidna who eventually sealed Chaos. It took the power of her own spirit to seal his. Before I freed Chaos myself several months ago, I knew of this story from the stone tablets. And there are other prophecies depicting Perfect Chaos, as well. But _never_ have I seen one that indicated any of the other echidnas _knew _what had to be done to seal Chaos."

"Does this mean something to you?"

"Not particularly," the doctor said, a malevolent grin in his tone, "but I like to record all the information I stumble across. You never know when it might be useful." He turned to leave. "Speaking of different time periods… It would certainly be interesting to get rid of that spikeball and that Emerald guardian for a while so I could set up my empire."

"Statistically, there's about a 70 percent chance that one of them will have a Chaos Emerald at any given time. Even if you were serious, and are thinking what I think you're thinking, they could merely cause Chaos Control to return."

"Ahhh." Eggman raised a finger. "They could return immediately, but _would_ they? Because given the events going on during _that _specific time period, and knowing what I know about those two, I certainly don't think so." The doctor didn't explain why he thought that. "And what a thought that is indeed."

"Are you implying something?"

Eggman's red coat swayed behind him as he strutted his way back through the ruined fort. "No," he replied simply. "Nothing more than what I'm saying."

"If you want to be rid of them so much, why not do it the old-fashioned way?"

"Kill Knuckles? Kill _Sonic?_ My dearest robot." Eggman glanced at the humanoid, looking amused. "An adventure's no fun if it's too easy."

xxx

First-person perspective: Amber

xxx

"Okay, so!"

Lucas jumped at the sound of Sonic's energetic voice. All has been contentedly quiet until that instant. It didn't surprise me that he would be the one to break the silence. Lucas didn't look like he was genuinely annoyed – he no longer took cheerfulness for granted, and neither did I – but he gave Sonic a hard time just for the hell of it.

"Wow, do you make a point of scaring the crap out of people on a regular basis?"

"Heh, sorry," the hedgehog said, scratching his nose and not looking like he was really all that sorry. "Didn't mean to scare ya… though it was a nice byproduct."

"Har har har. What do you want, Sonic?"

Sonic wriggled a finger under the cuff his glove and gently itched the healing scab there. "I was just gonna say, the number of androids have been fizzling down ever since we got here. Like, you can actually _tell _now. I didn't notice it much in the beginning, but lately there definitely haven't been as many of 'em around. I don't think we're the only ones defeating them anymore."

"You know, I was just thinking that," Lucas said. "I bet other people on this floor heard about us destroying some, and are finding ways to do the same. Glad you noticed too!"

Something confident and dangerous flashed across Sonic's eyes. It made me feel nervous and thrilled at the same time; he was up to something. "How about taking down another one?"

"Like, right now?"

"Next time we have an opportunity… which, really, shouldn't be _too _long. I mean, we've stopped a lot of them, but not _that _many."

"Seems like every time we try a stunt like this, bad stuff happens," Lucas said.

Sonic shrugged. "And…? More often than not we take care of that, too."

"That's putting an awful lot of reliance on chance."

Sigh. "Haven't we had this discussion about a million times since we met? How 'bout we just skip the crap this time and get on with it?"

"Sonic…" Lucas put his hands out, seeking understanding but struggling to find the words that went with the gesture. Finally, he took a few steps and met Sonic at their window, looking down at him. "You know, I was starting to think that way myself for a while there, until the other day when Kai destroying that android almost got you in massive trouble. _Again. _So someone's got to point this out and I'm the only one who will. You can't just pretend consequences don't exist! I mean, it's great that you're all for this. Really, it is. You're… you're inspiring a hell of a lot of people in this place. But to just _do _this without even being provoked, just for the hell of it? This is exactly the kind of stunt that made Eggman go all insane on you!"

"Hah, yeah, got me in some deep water, didn't it?"

"Yes, it _did_," Lucas said, sounding anything but amused. It was an awkward moment. I knew Lucas was worried for both their sakes. I was worried too. I was _always _worried about them. But still… wasn't this Sonic's prerogative?

The direction my thoughts were going surprised me. I actually felt defensive of Sonic's attitude. He could do what he wanted. And it wasn't like Lucas had to go along with him. He could stay uninvolved if he wanted, like I was.

I kind of didn't want to be that way anymore, but I wasn't sure how to go about changing that status quo.

"Hey, don't let it _dampen _your mood. Hah, wow, I could _spout_ these off all day," Sonic informed Lucas with a chuckle, trying to break the tension but making it worse. After that his voice became gentle and a little more genuine. "Okay, serious now. I get what you're saying, but, well, we _did _get the magnets out. So I think now's a safer time than any to take action. I mean, it's up to you, but I think we'll be fine." He hoped Lucas would help, I could tell. He enjoyed their companionship.

"I know that. But Sonic… you can't think you're in the safe zone just because we got the magnets out. Remember when you first got here? You were convinced nothing bad would happen, and it _did_. I know you're gonna keep trying to stop Eggman, and I respect that about you, Sonic. All I'm saying is be careful how you go about that. Don't get overconfident, because anything can happen."

"I know, but—"

"No offense, but I kind of thought… I kind of thought you'd learn that after what happened three weeks ago. Not to mention how many times I _warned _you about this place, and you didn't listen to me…"

Sonic crossed his arms. "You still don't quite get it, do ya? Lucas, it doesn't matter if things don't always work out perfectly, and most of the time I don't even expect 'em to. I'm not doing anything out of ignorance… is that what you think? I know there could be consequences… boy, do I know."

Sonic frowned a little for a moment, probably recalling one of those consequences. I couldn't tell if he was unaware of himself or if he was deliberately exposing that memory, silently assuring Lucas that he hadn't forgotten. I watched Lucas take in the briefly distant look on his face and begin to say something, but Sonic cut him off, a smile touching his expression again. "But safe or not safe, I'm just too far into this to back down now."

Lucas couldn't really argue. I couldn't either. "Okay," he said, finally conceding. "Okay then. What's your idea?"

"Was hoping you'd ask," the hedgehog said, grin broadening. "All right. I'm going to make a bunch of noise and tick the androids off. Might take a while, but eventually one of them'll want to do something about it, right?"

Lucas ignored the question. "You're just _asking_ for it."

"Aw, come on now. How many times have you felt better about my ideas once you hear me out?"

"Never."

"Exactly. Eventually, one of the androids will come in here. Hopefully it'll open the door, but probably not. It'll probably just do that weird materializing thing that they do. Either way, it'll press the button that activates the magnets, thinking I won't pose a threat to it."

"I think I see where you're going with this."

"And I'll pretend I'm stuck to that panel. My feet were an inch or two off the ground last time, but the droid won't even have time to notice the difference, because you're going to get its attention before it can focus in on me. When it faces you and turns its back towards me…"

"Right, I get it."

Something caught their gazes and both human and hedgehog turned to watch Kai drift past them down the hallway. The chao glanced over at them only long enough to give a passing wave.

Lucas waved too, then turned back to Sonic. "So we just wait until an android shows up. How do you know you'll even be able to lead it on?"

"Don't you worry about _that,_" he said with a smirk. "I'm a pro at provoking opponents."

"You're a pro at provoking _everyone_."

Sonic ignored him and meandered over to his gate, peeking through the bars as Kai continued away from them. "Hm," he said simply, thoughtfully.

"Are you wondering where he goes all the time?" Lucas asked.

"Why, do you know?"

"No, but I've been wondering too. I mean, it made sense before. He was probably off doing stuff for Eggman. But now that we've made friends with him… doesn't it seem a little _weird_ to you that he doesn't spend more time around these parts? What does he _do _all the time?"

"I dunno, Lucas. I dunno."

Lucas was silent for a long moment. Then, quietly: "I think I might."

Terror settled in my stomach like a brick. I knew what he was about to say, what it meant for everyone… and somehow just as importantly, what it meant for Sonic. I didn't want Lucas to finish the thought.

"…The way that incident happened was so convenient. When Kai came to your rescue and all that… it had been his idea to destroy that android in the first place, which is what got you in trouble. What if it was deliberate? What if it was… staged? Could it have been set up that way so Kai could come to your aid and get everyone's trust?"

Lucas seemed like he had been thinking about it for a while. Only because of his tone a few seconds ago had that possibility even occurred to me. I would never again have thought poorly of that little chao otherwise. But Lucas… Lucas had never fully trusted Kai. And it was clear as day in his words as he continued on;

"Sonic… that means he could have been listening to us. Could have gotten an android, or Eggman himself, to eavesdrop when we talked about… _important _things. For all we know… Eggman could already know everything."

Suddenly feeling ill, I slowly shifted my gaze over to the blue blur.

I got only a brief glimpse into his jade eyes before he closed them and took a deep, steady breath. "I guess I can't be careful even when I _want _to, can I?" he asked quietly.

"It's not your fault," Lucas said. "I didn't catch on quick enough either. I just wish… I wish we knew if Kai had been around that one night, when you… when you told me the truth about everything. I mean, if Eggman is aware of that conversation…"

Sonic nodded. "I wish we knew too. But let's not assume the worst, okay? Maybe you've got this all wrong about Kai, for all we know. And I'm not gonna treat him differently just because of a coincidence like this. We'll just have to keep extra quiet and hope the damage _hasn't _already been done." The hedgehog closed his eyes again. I couldn't tell if he was convinced Kai was a traitor, but he knew _Lucas _was convinced, and that Lucas was worried. That alone was enough for him to be worried too. Lucas was his friend. "I'm sorry, Lucas. I mean, if Eggman does know… It'd have been better if you weren't in the know about all this, too. I don't want you to get hurt."

"Would it change anything?" Lucas asked. "Even if I didn't _know_ what you did… Eggman wouldn't _know _I didn't know. He would still want to find out the truth for sure. He could still hurt me either way." Sonic opened his eyes and looked at Lucas then. The man continued. "_Someone_ would have been put here in this cell. I'm glad it was me. No matter what happens now, I'll always consider it an honor to have fought next to you. Sonic… you've given me so much. I've gained more in this cell than I'll ever lose."

Sonic blinked. "I…"

"So don't you _dare _apologize to me on my behalf. I wouldn't apologize to you on your behalf… not anymore, especially with what you told me a few minutes ago. I get it now, and I know you can handle whatever lies ahead, and that you don't need my pity or sorrow. So give me the same faith I'm giving you... because I will not surrender to Eggman, now or ever."

As a warm chill ran up the back of my arms at Lucas's brave words, I again felt like I should say something, but didn't know what it was. It seemed like I always felt this way at the worst times, when they were having a personal conversation that didn't involve me… and indeed, considering how hard they were trying to keep Sonic's deception a secret, I wasn't even supposed to be overhearing anything…

"It's never that I didn't have faith in you, Lucas," Sonic said softly. "I just don't want to see anyone get hurt."

"You think it's easy for anyone to see _you_ get hurt?"

Sonic had no answer for that question. He veered away from it, not wanting to detour down a path they had conversed so many times already. "Not like we can decide what happens anyway," he said. "We should focus on doing what we're doing. If Eggman _does _know, we'll just have to face it. Right?"

For the first time, there was no hesitation in Lucas's eyes as he answered, "Right."

Moments passed in silence. Then Kai whizzed by again, in the opposite direction as before, not bothering to make eye contact with anyone this time, very much like Eggman had not too long ago. If not for the green highlights on the tips of his paws, I don't think his quick movement would have even attracted my attention. Whether Sonic and Lucas noticed, I couldn't tell.

"Doesn't seem like any androids are nearby right now," Sonic commented. "But if one shows up, we'll go ahead with what we were going to do earlier, m'kay?"

"For sure," Lucas said.

"In the meantime, I think I could go for a catnap. Or, you know, hedgehognap."

I realized I could use some sleep too. As the atmosphere settled back to its normal state, Sonic and I both settled into our respective sleeping bags. I was just on the edge of sleep when Lucas's voice cut through the air again. "Hey."

His voice sounded closer than usual, like he was near the front of his cell. It prompted me to get up, realizing he was addressing me. "What?" I asked quietly. Sonic was already sleeping.

"You're in on this too, even if Sonic doesn't know it yet."

"I… I am?"

"Don't play dumb. You've heard us all along, haven't you?"

Uh-oh. "Yeah, I have, but Lucas, I…"

"Then you're in on this, whether I like it or not and whether _you _like it or not. So don't say anything to Eggman or anyone. Promise." He fixed me with a glare, and I wanted nothing more than to look away and never have to face a glare like that again. His attitude was one of justified defensiveness, not only for himself but on Sonic's behalf, because he knew the blue blur would never hold me to such a promise himself.

This, I realized, was the moment that a part of me had been waiting for, despite the sudden fear that gripped my stomach. They… they needed me. They needed me for something I was good at: silence. "I promise," I said.

Lucas's glare fizzled away and for a second I couldn't imagine how such a dark expression had even been possible on his face. There was boldness there now, and courage, and friendliness. "Then welcome to the team."

xxx

Most everyone around us was quiet with mid-afternoon lethargy, and it was contagious. Sonic yawned, which made Lucas yawn, which _would _have made me yawn if I hadn't caught sight of something down the hall. I hated that feeling of having a yawn stuck in my system like that. It was irritating, and even when you took care of it, the yawn was never as satisfying as it would have been the first time around.

The blue blur closed his eyes and stretched comfortably, probably about to settle down for one of his naps, and Lucas took the opportunity to glance over at me. We made eye contact and then I nodded towards the hallway, indicating what I had seen. He followed the direction of my gesture and saw it too; an H-series android coming this way, walking casually, doing the afternoon patrol alone.

It'd be its last.

"Thanks," Lucas said, smiling. I nodded. He would never have noticed the robot without my cue, and with them being so sparse lately, I knew he genuinely was grateful. "Heya, Sonic? Don't be sleeping on the job, now."

"What, now?" the hedgehog mumbled. He had already lain down and was curled up in a content ball on his sleeping bag.

"Loner android that happens to be taking a stroll down our hallway at the moment. Let's do it."

Already in convenient form, Sonic promptly began spin dashing all around the room, ricocheting off the walls with his protective spikes. The robot approached more quickly, its sensory system detecting the noise without delay. Upon seeing who it was, its shoulders slumped and it raised a hand to its forehead. "Oh dear," the android said exasperatedly, then addressed its comrades: "H-series top floor, Sonic is acting up again. Should we contact Master Robotnik?"

"Your call," one of them said back.

"Why is it my call? I was just recently assigned to the top floor. I don't know how this works yet."

As the two androids talked, Sonic uncurled and went up to the side window, smiling.  
>"You heard what the droid said, right?" Lucas said in a hushed whisper. "Sounds like they know to contact Eggman first thing now."<p>

"Eggman, shmeggman."

"We'll take it out before it even gets the chance," Lucas said, sharing Sonic's daring expression now. "You ready?"

"Would I say no?"

But the android didn't try to activate the magnets like we had all expected. Instead, it abruptly warped inside Sonic's cell and pinned him to the wall with one hand around his neck. His eyes went wide. Strained noises came from his throat as he struggled in a breath.

"What, you were really gullible enough to think I was new at this?" the humanoid asked snidely. "You _really _expected an H-series robot on the top floor to be that clueless? Hah! That's cute." Its tone lowered then but not its volume as it said, "I can fake too, hedgehog."

I swear the floor dropped out beneath me, because suddenly I was floating in an abyss of numb terror, unable – or maybe unwilling – to wrap my conscience around what I had just heard. The only thing I could wrap my conscience around was a single word echoing around in my head: _No… no, no, no…_

Sonic pulled at the unyielding metal hand around his throat with both of his own. His feet weren't even touching the ground. The robot's grip on his neck was the only thing supporting his weight. "What's _that _supposed to mean?" he managed, and I could sense the same underlying apprehension in his words that I felt within me. But I felt no sense of companionship or comfort at knowing I was not alone in my worries. Rather, I was even more scared, because knowing he was scared too made those fears justified.

"You know damn well what it means," the robot hissed. Sonic's expression was unreadable now but I had seen enough. "You're a faker, a cheater. You were going to try and pretend you still had the magnets in – weren't you? – so that you could destroy me unexpectedly."

I was pretty sure that I, Lucas and Sonic all breathed a thankful sigh of relief then. That was not what we thought the robot had been referring to about faking. Thank goodness…

"At any rate, I suppose this would be the ideal time for me to contact my master. I will simply hold you immobile myself until he arrives; surely he will want to have a word with you for getting out of hand again, Sonic."

"Why don't you deal with Sonic yourself?" Lucas snapped from the window. Ooh, I didn't like the sound of that option either. I hoped those two knew what they were doing. Perhaps it hadn't been a good idea to hint Lucas about the android after all. "You're all a bunch of cowards. But hey, who can blame you? Eggman's so huge, there's _plenty _of room for all of you to hide behind him!"

"You…" the android thrust Sonic roughly into the far wall, turning its attention towards Lucas. "You seriously think you can just say something like that and not pay for it?"

"Yeah," the man said with a grin, "actually I do."

And right on cue, Sonic threw himself into the back of the robot, driving it into the window. Lucas grasped one of its arms, pulled it through, and snapped it off its socket against one of the bars. Open wires hanging from inside the exposed shoulder sizzled with sparks for several seconds before the electricity took over the droid entirely… at which point, of course, it blew up. Lightning reflexes took over and Sonic dodged the chunks of debris expertly as they whizzed by.

When he turned back towards the window, Lucas was standing there with a dumb smile on his face, still holding the stray arm in the same position. "That was… so… awesome!"

"Wasn't it, though?" Sonic said, casually dusting off his torso. "And man, you really got under that android's skin with that comment! That was quick!"

"Yup. Just like we said, he didn't even have time to contact Eggman! Sonic, this went _right _for once!" Lucas stuck the android arm partially through the bars, holding it up with a crooked grin. "Gimme five!"

Chuckling, Sonic jumped up and playfully slapped the robotic hand. Then Lucas took it and snapped it over his knee before discarding the pieces in the hallway.

It was as good of a victory as any of the small victories they had achieved in Meka Tower. But once the adrenaline wore off a few minutes later, it somehow didn't seem as satisfying. Lucas couldn't help but think that maybe it was because Kai wasn't around like he had been before. He paced back and forth a few times, and glanced at Sonic once when he got close enough to the window. Sonic glanced too, then they both looked away, and then back again. Lucas offered a halfhearted smile.

"I hope that little bastard's okay."

Sonic immediately knew who he was referring to, and nodded. "Me too, bud. Me too."

xxx

_I play by my own rules. Remember that. –Sonic, Black Knight_

xxx

_IN CHAPTER 23: Get ready, Tails fans._

And that's a wrap. Lotsa stuff coming up in the next few chapters, and a few things I still have to work on, but hopefully the next update will be soon! Thanks for reading, and I'll see you guys next time. Have a good one!


	24. Chapter 23: Against the Current part 1

DanceDream: Thanks a lot! Seriously. All my thanks are belong to you. XD I'm sincerely really glad that you enjoyed reading this, because I wouldn't want our talking before to have made you feel obligated or anything. It's astounding how quickly you caught up! Best of luck getting an account too, especially since you seem to really like this site and stuff. Plus you'd be able to maybe upload some of those stories you spoke of, and be able to PM. :) Heh, that little response to ya back in Chapter 3 was to say thanks for your comments on something else (WEIE I believe), but I responded to it in this story on the off chance you might stumble across it, since this is the only that was gonna be updated anytime soon. XD Anyway, there's a lot more I could say here, especially regarding your most recent comment, but I'mma try and keep this reasonable so I don't make a chapter out of the author's note. :P

I'm thrilled that you're enjoying the plot and the characters. I too am really character-oriented and like getting into their thoughts and personalities, but you already know that. I love what you said about Tails, Eggman and Sonic, and it's rewarding knowing you notice and treasure those kindsa things! And it also makes me happy that you said all that about life and appreciating what you have. I am glad you see it that way, because if this story can be a little reminder about things like that, or even just make someone's day a little bit better, that's just awesome in my opinion. :) Thanks again, DanceDream, glad you're here. And yeah, life does rock.

x

Uh, I realize it's been a bit since we've seen how Tails is doing. So, quick recap on the world outside Meka Tower: the last we saw of Tails was in chapters 16 and 17, during which he secured the Master Emerald, stowed it away in that cave, and engineered a password gate to protect it in between a long-needed conversation with the blue blur. Meanwhile, after helping Tails get the Master Emerald, the other Chaotix have broken off to hold the fort at the agency since their financial struggles aren't getting any easier. While a fair bit has occurred in Meka Tower in the two weeks or so since then, Tails and Amy's side of things have been pretty uneventful. Now, inclement weather brings about an unexpected opportunity.

…I've always wanted to have the word 'vertigo' in a chapter title. ^v^~

CHAPTER 23: AGAINST THE CURRENT; VERTIGO

Tails awoke with a start, cerulean eyes opening wide as something cold and wet permeated his thick fur.

There was water flowing in from the tunnel, creating a shimmering blanket on the cave floor of his hiding place as the Master Emerald's brightness reflected off it. Startled, Tails shot to his feet and wrung his namesakes dry. He had been staying here nightly for weeks now, and most of the time it had been warm and dry. It was disorienting waking up with one side of his body soaked. "What in the world…?"

The Master Emerald was still right next to him, leaning on a large slab of smooth granite, glimmering obliviously. His sleeping bag and blankets were already soaked through, too. The water wasn't coming in fast enough to flood the area, or at least, Tails didn't think so… but it had been enough to rouse him from a deep slumber. He sighed, knowing there was no way he would be able to go back to sleep with his temporary home in this condition.

He ran up the sloped ground and back through the narrow tunnel, splashing through the water and getting his shoes and socks wet. Upon getting halfway through, he reached the mechanical door he had built the same day he had talked to Sonic – an eternity ago, as far as he could tell. When he saw it, he exhaled in relief, glad to see that the water had only leaked in around it rather than destroyed it. He keyed in the password and immediately lifted himself off the ground as water gushed through the opening.

_Oh boy. Maybe I should have found a cave at a higher elevation…_

It was raining heavily, the huge droplets pounding against the leaves and making what would have been a peaceful sound if Tails wasn't exhausted from being awakened so abruptly. Lightning flashed off in the distance, the chorus of rumbling thunder following shortly after, harmonizing darkly with the sound of the rain. It was a typical thunderstorm… but he had not anticipated the pains it would bring for the Master Emerald's shelter.

First he had been caught in a storm in his flight back from Prison Island. Now, thankfully, he wasn't in the air, but the storm had been determined to ruin his night on the ground too. The fox could only assume that weather just didn't like him much.

His sensitive ears picked up on a beeping sound coming from his communicator. It was nearly a whisper against the consistent noise of the storm, so he made his way back through the tunnel and slammed down the door.

"Hey Amy. You all right?"

"Yes, I'm fine. You sound like you were awake already, too… are _you _all right?"

"Oh, yeah," Tails side tiredly, "the rain just came in for a visit is all."

The girl chuckled. "Yeah, seems like a pretty big storm. I forgot that tunnel was downhill."

"So you _weren't _contacting me because you were worried about me," Tails said jokingly.

"Are you kidding? This Chaos Emerald signal I'm picking up is a lot more important than your seepage problems. Besides, Sonic's the only one who gets to complain about water."

"I'm not trying to complain, I just – wait." Tails retraced her words mentally. "Chaos Emerald?"

"That's right! Aren't you happy?"

"Amy… I thought you were staying at my workshop."

"That's the thing," she said, becoming somewhat more serious now, "I am. Our two Chaos Emeralds have never given off a signal in here before, but suddenly they got really bright and it woke me up. They're really hot to the touch, too. I mean, they don't hurt or anything, but it's _definitely _not the normal level of heat you expect from these things. It has to be another Chaos Emerald. Right?"

"Uh, yeah," the fox replied, confused. "I mean, it has to be! But that doesn't make any sense… they don't just get closer on their own. Oh no… what if Eggman has it, and he's coming this way?"

"…I didn't think of that."

"But… no, I shouldn't jump to conclusions," Tails realized aloud. "Maybe there's another reason. I mean, I transferred a lot of their power into my radar so it would detect better. Maybe our two Emeralds are just now replenishing that power, which is why they're able to detect others now. That has to be it!"

"But you just told yourself not to jump to conclusions, Tails."

"Right… I guess it could be any number of reasons. We'll just have to go find out for ourselves."

"Is your radar detecting it from there?"

Tails peeked into the wide part of the cave, where the Master Emerald was still reflecting its vibrant light across the water and all the crystals. The place shone so much it was almost overwhelming. "No," he said, finally focusing on the radar and seeing it inactive. "My radar's not picking up on it. It can detect just as well as the other Chaos Emeralds, so you must be closer to it than I am."

"Should I go look for it while you stay there?"

"That might be a… hm. You know what, actually, would you mind trading spots with me? Since you're holding onto the two Chaos Emeralds, it might be a better idea if we do it that way. There's still a chance Eggman's about, and we don't want him getting a hold of them."

"But couldn't I just give the Emeralds to you before going after the other one, then?"

"Amy, you would have to come here to give me the Emeralds, and then you wouldn't be any closer to the new one than I am. And I hate to say it, but… I can get there faster than you can. I'd rather do that just in case it _is _Eggman, that way I can get it back as quickly as possible. You've been a great help to me, Amy, and you've got a job to do, and I need you… Just not for this."

When only silence came through the com-link, Tails bit his lip, wondering if he'd said something wrong. He realized he had actually meant it, every word of it. Amy was his friend and he had come to value her more than he had imagined was possible.

"…Thank you, Tails. I just wanna help, and keep being a part of this adventure with you, because… because for as much as I love Sonic, he never waits for me or appreciates my help like you do. So if watching the Master Emerald and our two Chaos Emeralds is the best thing I can do right now, you can count on me to do it."

Tails realized that he had contributed to leaving Amy behind on more than one occasion in the past. In Space Colony ARK, he had always gone ahead with Sonic, with the excuse that Amy was safer when she wasn't with them… But then, wasn't he himself safer when he wasn't with Sonic, too? Yet he hadn't let that stop him, so why had it been fair for them to stop Amy?

She had held her own just fine when they helped Espio infiltrate the tower. She had taken a beating from an android to protect their Emeralds. She was just as capable as they were.

_And here, for all the things that would have gone _better_ if Sonic hadn't been captured, I would never even have thought of this, and would never have seen Amy as a close friend… and she would never have gotten the chance to be a part of something so big like this. She would have been stuck in the background again, just like she always has…_

"All right, Amy," he said quietly, meaningfully. "And thanks. I'm glad I can count on you."

"When should I be there?" she asked eagerly.

"As fast as you can," Tails answered. "Like, Sonic-speed. I want to go find this Emerald as soon as possible. I'll track it down with my radar and get back here as soon as I can."

"I'm on my way now. And I can run pretty fast too, you know."

"Okay."

"And before you say it, I'll contact you the second anything out of the ordinary happens. So you can find that Chaos Emerald with the comfort of knowing the others and the Master Emerald are safe. But Tails…?" she trailed off.

"Yeah?" the fox urged.

"I just… I thought you didn't like storms."

"Well, there's definitely conditions I'd choose over it," he admitted with a chuckle. "But I have to do my part of this too, just like you're doing your part and Sonic's doing his part. You guys didn't let any setbacks stop you. You kept our Chaos Emeralds safe that time even though it hurt, and Sonic's been pulling through some crazy stuff to keep up this fight too. So I can't let something I don't like stop me. Since I've got the radar and my tails, I'll be able to track this Chaos Emerald down the fastest."

xxx

An hour later found Tails standing at the top of a large, grassy hill overlooking an unremarkable forest. His tails ached with not only exertion, but the heaviness of the water soaking his fur. He twisted the two appendages around each other, squeezing some of the moisture out, only for them to become wet again seconds later. Rinse and repeat.

The thunder and lightning had kept their distance thus far, to his relief. He saw the sky brighten occasionally, but most of the time it was so far he wondered if he had imagined it. If there was still thunder, he couldn't hear it over the pattering of the rain. Uneasiness still lingered over him like the black clouds, but he was keeping it at bay.

Their third Chaos Emerald was down in that forest somewhere. His radar – in the form of a small waterproof screen attached as an extension to his communicator – was vibrating like crazy. He watched water slide down the hill, creating its own temporary river as it rushed into the trees (a few of which had fallen due to the storm, he noted nervously). He turned to his right and surveyed the part of the forest that continued in that direction, looking for the telltale gleam of a Chaos Emerald from his vantage point. In this darkness he would be able to spot its glow easily, even though the trees. It was the wild rain that was hindering his view, creating a thick, blustery barrier all around.

He heard and felt thunder nearby. It was a gentle rumbling, but still made him feel inclined to hold his radar close simply because it was all he had to hold. He felt vulnerable, tense… but also a smidge excited. He was pushing his boundaries, not breaking them, but pushing them, doing something he hadn't done in a long time. It was frightening, but somehow fresh.

He wanted to challenge himself, not to prove to Sonic or Amy or anyone else that he could be strong, but to prove it to himself.

Unable to find the Chaos Emerald from up high, Tails reasoned that it was time to try the old-fashioned way. Just because he could, he slid down the slippery hill on his bottom, dragging his twin tails through a mess of mud and uprooted grass and somehow getting them more saturated with water than they already were. He chuckled a little to himself as he made his way into the dark woods. The radar began beeping insistently, urging him to continue. It made him feel a little tense for some reason, like he had to hurry up and get there. It beeped faster with every step he took.

On the forest floor, water was flowing in various different directions depending on the slope of the land in any given area – really, just doing whatever the hell it wanted. He weaved around a few trees, and almost immediately he saw it: the Chaos Emerald drifting along in a current off to his right.

"So the _weather _is what brought you within range," the fox said, chasing after the gem as it drifted around in the water. "Guess it's good for something, anyway."

The radar was all but screaming at him now. He was just reaching to turn it off when something shoved him into the wet slush and snatched the gem from his line of sight, delivering upon the urgency the device's screeching had made him feel.

Shocked while his brain played catch-up, Tails managed to instinctually scramble back to his feet and get out of the way in case another blow was coming. The world came back into clear focus and he saw the gem's white light radiating against a surface of blood red. He staggered across the forest floor towards the source. Though he never remembered doing it, somewhere in the muddled dizziness he turned off the radar. Only the sound of the rolling storm was left, and it was like a dark foreboding.

The fox finally regained his bearings only to realize the red and white colors had been making their way toward him at the same time. By the time he had the capacity to strategize, he was plowed backward and into a tree, and held against it harshly. He squeezed his eyes shut automatically, bracing for the likely follow-up. Instead he heard a gruff voice.

"You again," it said, taking pause. "Miles Prower. Didn't I see you not too long ago?"

The addressed opened his eyes to see dark violet ones staring back at him. He had known. Even before seeing who it was, he had known. But Chaos knew he wasn't going to let that dark imposter get away with _that. _Only Sonic was allowed to use his real name. "Call me Tails!" he said back stubbornly.

"Soon enough you'll be a number like everyone else. If I were you, I'd be happy with Miles Prower while I still could."

"No! _No!_" Tails screamed and kicked, surprising the imposter, and managed to pry those gloved hands off his shoulders. Tree bark scraped against his back as he dragged himself away. He tried to fly but his namesakes were too waterlogged to spin. His foe came after him.

The last time they had seen each other, the echidna had helped Tails in order to retain his pretense. Now the pretense was gone and a very sinister, scathing likeness of Knuckles remained in its place.

The fox was scared. He had already been on edge about going out in the storm, but at least he had _expected _that. Out of childhood habit more than anything, he wondered what Sonic would do now to deal with a situation like this.

He always thought of Sonic when he was scared. He wondered if Sonic ever thought of him, too.

Tails risked a glance over his shoulder and saw that the imposter had halted. Hoping he wasn't falling into its strategy, he halted too, and turned to face him with confusion.

"That's how you're going to be?" the echidna asked, arms spread. He sounded frustrated. Tails could see his temper boiling in his gaze. He wanted to put his hands out, ask him to stop acting this way. What had _happened _to that echidna? Had there really been no good inside him when he had helped the fox? But Tails couldn't find the words he needed. The echidna didn't take well to that, and strode toward him again. "Fine then, I'll fight you! But you're going to be sorry!"

That was answer enough. Tails wanted to run more than anything. But that echidna still had the Chaos Emerald. He was lucky he hadn't just taken off with it and left him in the forest. He was _lucky_ for this fight, this opportunity to get it back.

Lucky. He tried to tell himself that. Tried to embrace that chance. He could fight. He had fought before. But knowing what he knew about this creature… it was not going to be easy.

_Well, fine. I don't need easy!_

Then _Knuckles _went in the opposite direction, disappearing into the blinding, pouring rain. For a second he thought the lookalike had changed his mind and decided to leave with the victory he already had.

He just started to take off after the echidna when he heard a series of piercing snaps and crunches. When he realized what they were, he found himself _wishing _they were thunder and lightning. But they had a very distinct down, a precise brand of _crack_ that could only be one thing.

Breaking.

The fake guardian was using his strong fists to destroy the trees in his midst. And the rain was too heavy to see them.

"No! _No, please stop!_" Tails cried out in sudden dread, but he couldn't even hear his own voice. "_Knuckles!_" he said, because there was nothing else to call the imposter. Calling that name out loud like that tugged his heart strings a little. Even though he knew it wasn't Knuckles, hearing himself call a beloved name with such fear just stung him to the core.

Why? Why did he look like Knuckles? Who was he? There had to be a _reason _he was behaving this way…

Questions like that always came up when it was the worst, most impossible time to try and find out. Chaos was ensuing around him where he stood there alone in his own sadness and shock.

He wasn't even being given a chance to fight. This echidna was merciless and ready to finish him.

The ground shook. He ran away, or at least he _hoped _it was away, from the source. Somewhere behind him – but still _way _too close – a tree had landed with a crash. He felt it more than he heard it. Vibrations seemed to ripple the ground beneath him for seconds. Small stray branches flew into him. Most of them didn't hurt. They were just crumbs of tree that had happened to come his way after breaking off from their source. They didn't hurt; but they let him know just how close the tree had been.

"Where _are _you? _Kn-Knuckles!_"

Lightning struck. The flash it emitted didn't answer his question. He didn't see the echidna.

He saw something worse.

The next tree was towering over him and falling fast. Its shadow stretched out along the ground eerily, covering his own, shrouding it in black. In moments the tree itself would follow suit.

Doing the only thing he could do, Tails ran for his life, away from the shadow trying to encompass him in its growing size. The ground went downhill unexpectedly and his foot caught a dip. He went flying, limbs getting tangled up with his tails as he tumbled down the drop. Frantically, he threw his arms out for roots and rocks, but the tumble only got steeper and every time he thought he could stop himself, whatever he was grasping came unattached from the ground because of his own sheer momentum.

His speed was increasing. He couldn't stop himself. It was too steep. Knots of root struck his body on the way down, causing bruises he'd never see through the fur. His namesakes gathered dirt and leaves as they dragged across the uneven ground. One brushed a large stump, taking some bark with it. He knocked his head on a rock and the storm went dangerously quiet to his mind.

When the ground finally leveled out, he landed sprawled on his front, unable to get up. The world was spinning and shaking. He didn't know if it was because the tree had landed and caused that feeling, or if it was his own perception. He felt like throwing up.

The shaking only got worse. There's always a certain point where you realize something is just a little too present to be in your imagination. In the haze of his mind, this realization struck brighter and harder than lightning…

Those vibrations were _not _stopping and they were not only because he was trembling.

The broken trunk was rolling down the hill too.

It was all he could do to curl up in a tight ball and protect himself. He couldn't get up. He was so intensely dizzy.

_No… no, no, please don't hit me!_

The trunk smacked into the stray stump he had missed on his fall down. It didn't halt the thing, but it set it off course just enough to make it go over the fox. The bark skidded ever so slightly across his back. Not enough to cause any real harm but enough to make his fur stand up at just how close it was.

"Yowch," remarked that thick voice from behind him. "Glad it was you and not me."

The dark guardian had glided and followed Tails and the tree down the hill, the occasional flashes lighting his way. Now he stood behind Tails, full of fighting pride and nowhere near as drained as the fox was.

"W-wait… Is this all? Are you really just… just some c-c-crazed monster? Wh-wh…"

"I have to stop any threats to the Emeralds."

_That _much, anyway, sounded like something Knuckles would say. In fact, a lot of the imposter's attitude seemed to be similar to that of the Emerald guardian's. It was eerie, the dark correlation between the two… But the actions this echidna was taking upon his words and beliefs were much too unforgiving, much too thoughtless to be compared to Knuckles…

"But…" Tails tried to pick himself up and say those thoughts out loud, but he barely got to his hands and knees before beginning to dry heave.

"Nothing in your stomach to throw up, eh?"

Tails could see the glow of the Chaos Emerald reaching to where he was. It lit things up enough for him to see a few spots of blood on the ground beneath him from scratches he had sustained. They were nothing he couldn't handle. It was the uncontrollable tumbling and bumping that had one-upped him. He couldn't get his vision to agree with him. His stomach churned with sickness even though he hadn't eaten since yesterday. Reminded of the echidna's question by this, he shook his head no, still trying to get up.

"Well, I guess we should _fix _that!"

The fox was up now, all right. But not of his own accord. The red echidna had lifted him off the ground and thrown him forward. He landed in about six inches of water that had pooled up there from the storm. Immediately he tried to drag himself out of the muddy hindrance, making himself spin his namesakes to create splashes that would hopefully delay his foe slightly. The echidna wasn't done with him yet and he knew it. He barely managed to get two feet further when a knee pinned his back and a huge hand pressed down on the back of his head, pushing him into the squelchy mess.

Right then was when survival instincts kicked in, transcending every other horrible sensation he was feeling. Somehow he held his breath. Though he couldn't resist the strength of a being as strong as Knuckles, he could fight it off in other ways. With both hands he reached behind him and tried to claw at the imposter's face. He felt one hand barely make contact before his opponent backed away to avoid harm. In doing so, he gave Tails some leverage, who withdrew and instead pushed against the ground. He managed to get his face up, sputtering, and sucked in a breath. Dirty, grainy water stung his eyes, making his vision worse than the windy storm had already made it.

"Ohh, so you _can _fight back! I was starting to worry you'd be too easy of a match to be worth my time, kid!"

Just as he pushed Tails under the water again, the fox managed to turn himself over so he was on his back. His bangs whipped around and clung to his head. In the split second that he was face-to-face with the echidna, he spat out the water that had gotten in his mouth as hard as he could.

"_Graghhh!_" his enemy wailed out in disgust and rage. If he was feeling a little less horrified, Tails might have found it funny that the glow of the Chaos Emerald let him see all that spit and water hit the other in the face. As it was, he scuttled backward through the bog, splashing it everywhere in a desperate attempt to gain some ground – literally and figuratively.

In a few seconds he felt his bottom hit something that was, while still muddy and drenched, at least still solid enough to qualify for that _ground _category. He got his feet beneath him, fully standing for the first time since tripping at the top of the hill a minute ago, and not really feeling any less sick or dizzy for it.

"W-well," he choked out, trying to be more confident and able than he was, "I guess there _was _something in me to spit out after all."

"You'll be lucky if the next thing you spit out isn't as red as my fur, you stubborn little kit!"

Though he would admit it to very few people, Tails was still shaking and it wasn't only from dizziness. "Why are you being like this now?" he managed, trying to fight with words since he knew he couldn't fight physically right now. He watched the imposter slosh through the water, and backed away at the same time, keeping the distance between them even until the echidna got away from the water and stopped. "You helped me that one time!"

Tails knew why, of course. But he had to stall. His insides almost felt too twisted up for him to stay standing. There was a storm going on in his stomach almost as bad as the one outside.

"You're right. Now, doesn't that mean you should help me?"

"But you're the one who just attacked me! You expect me to just fall back and take it?"

"That's true." The creature considered. "Well, how about this, Prower. You quit making a fuss and come with me, and we can stop fighting."

"No way! That's not even a fair trade." Tails took a few breaths. Finally, finally his body was starting to make sense to him again. "You _helped _me so that you could look like you were Knuckles. There's no way I'd help in return for a pretender like you."

"Pretender? Awfully high words for someone pretending so much boldness right now!"

The fox glared doggedly, fists clenched. "I never said I wasn't scared."

The obvious question; "Are you?"

"Maybe I am." Tails tried to make himself feel as firm and resolute as he was making himself sound. "But I know a few people who've gotten through worse than this!" He wrung his namesakes together and tried to squeeze out the water that was making him heavier than his normal weight. He had to do everything he could to better his chances while his attacker was letting himself be stalled. Chances were slim, but he was not letting Eggman get another Emerald if he could help it. "And one of 'em looks a lot like you, actually, except for he's _way _stronger outside and inside than you are!"

The echidna chuckled; a mixture of amusement and heated anger staining what might have sounded quite a bit like Knuckles's voice. "That so? Maybe one day I'll get to find out for myself, hm?" He didn't let Tails answer before running away into the shadows. He wasn't far, though, for the fox could still hear him through the rain as he called, "…But first we're going to find out about _you!_"

xxx

_In the next chapter: The fight becomes just as much about life-preservation as it does the Chaos Emerald, and Tails realizes he is in for more than he bargained for. -Its branches reached far and wide overhead as it fell, and he knew he wouldn't be able to get to safety before the tree got to him. There was no drama about it. It really was that simple.-_

xxx

Quote next chapter since this is another two-parter. (And likewise with another cliffhanger. Hee, sorry. *shrugs innocently*)

Thanks for reading, folks. You guys are awesome! I'll see ya next time! :)


	25. Chapter 24: Against the Current part 2

DanceDream: Aww, yeah, I betcha Sonic would have loved to see that too. He's had a few heartwarming moments in Meka Tower himself of course, but whereas Tails and Amy have each other, Sonic doesn't really have any of his old pals there to be with. Now if only they could all be together again…~ Heh, yeah, Murphy's Law, right? Of course that couldn't have happened while the weather was nice. XD It must be spring, with all the rain lately. As far as shined vs. shone, I think both are in the dictionary but shone probably does look better so I changed it. Oh, and happy birthday, since judging by what you said it's probably sometime around today! ^v^ Oh gosh, your 'ramble time' doesn't bother me at all! I appreciate the comments, and besides, you've seen how long-winded I can be. ^^; Thanks a lot!

X

Okay guys, here's the rest of what went down last time, picking up right where Tails's fight left off.

Some changes are a' comin', and this chapter sorta introduces the dynamic of the next few chapters as well, so... should be interesting. Hope you guys enjoy. :)

CHAPTER 24: AGAINST THE CURRENT; EQUILIBRIUM

Not freezing up this time, Tails boosted himself with his twin appendages that were momentarily dry enough to function, going after the imposter. He hoped against hope that his faintness would hold off. He could heave or pass out _after _he was safe again. But not now. Not now. _Not now…_

Lightning struck every few seconds and he was able to follow his foe's shadow as it contrasted brutally against the brightened ground. The one advantage Tails had was that his opponent couldn't seem to hear or see him very much through the storm either. The echidna was tearing through several more trees like last time, but didn't realize that Tails had come after him.

The fox's heart was pounding. He could feel it more than the storm around him and more than the lightheadedness he was barely keeping at bay. Because all he had to do was _get that Emerald _and run. And he was so close. He didn't even have to sneak. The storm blinded his approach and muffled his steps as his feet crunched twigs and splashed through mud.

Every second was a conflict between wanting to get closer, throwing himself at the fake from here, and fleeing all together. He knew he wouldn't opt for the last; Tails wasn't a coward. But that didn't mean it wasn't tempting. Somewhere inside, a part of him that was still very much a child was crying out in inconsolable fright.

But another part of him, a much stronger part that had overcome bullying and ridicule, built incredible machines, and grown up with Sonic, was managing to stifle that fright like water to fire.

_I can do this… I can get the Chaos Emerald…_

The echidna saw him out of the corner of his eye and turned around, exposing the Chaos Emerald – at the exact moment Tails launched himself forward with reckless abandon. It was the perfect concurrence, and his outstretched hands closed around the Chaos Emerald as if it was right where they were meant to go. The gem slipped easily out of the other's grasp because of the rain. Tails curled his entire body around it, preparing for the inevitable struggle in the coming seconds. He had it – he _had _it! – and now he had to protect it and escape.

Long before he could do that, he and his enemy were both on the muddy ground again, neither of them able to regain their stance after the assault.

He felt the onslaught of punches as the echidna tried to fight his way to the Chaos Emerald again. Using his position to his advantage, Tails made to roll away, but was grasped by one tail before he could do so. He cried out in unexpected pain – because apparently fatigue and nausea wasn't enough – and let go of the Chaos Emerald. He hadn't meant to, but with the slippery downpour, that brief wince had let his grip loosen just enough. It rolled away a few yards, taking its light with it.

Tails blinked frantically, trying to see straight through bullets of rain, renewed darkness, and lingering pain. Then he was dragged back by that same tail as the Knuckles fake tried to yank him as far away from the gem as possible. Tails gritted his teeth and _literally _held his ground, digging his fingers and feet into the dirt to fight the motion. There was a brief instant where the echidna was surprised, apparently not expecting his tug to be resisted like that. Taking the opportunity, Tails put everything into the strong muscles of his namesakes that he could and flung the fake away from him.

With eyes only for the Chaos Emerald, he dragged himself further down the slope. It was wedged underneath a fallen tree that the imposter had torn through minutes ago. With his condition it seemed way further than it actually was. He wasn't even severely hurt – somehow – but wiping out on that hill and being unable to stop himself had shaken him up, and every time he had started to sort himself out, something else took his feet out from underneath him.

The nightmarish conditions of this battle were _not _helping, either. But he had been out in a storm before, when he had gone to Prison Island to find one of the other Chaos Emeralds. He had flown the Tornado in that. If he could conquer that, he could conquer this too.

He was just beginning to vaguely wonder why his enemy hadn't recovered yet when another shadow came over him and the Chaos Emerald.

They say third time's a charm. This was the third time the echidna had felled trees in an attempt to hurt him. There were only two trees beginning to tip this time around. One was missing him by a wide margin.

The other was so spot-on it seemed like the trunk itself had a desire to kill him.

Its branches reached far and wide overhead as it fell, and he knew he wouldn't be able to get to safety before the tree got to him. There was no drama about it. It really was that simple.

In some vague corner of his mind he hoped his foe would have a change of heart enough to realize what he was doing, and somehow stop the tree. Since those days before meeting Sonic, Tails himself had changed a lot, coming to see the best in most people instead of the worst.

But some people were still just bullies.

Lightning struck again and in the slow-motion moments before the tree landed, he saw the echidna watching it happen from a distance.

xxx

"Maybe this is backwards," Lucas said, "but sometimes it makes me more nervous when Eggman's quiet than when he's not."

The doctor had indeed been quiet lately. Sonic didn't seem to think it was backwards. The first time Eggman had been quiet, it was because he had been constructing Meka Tower under wraps. The second time was in between Sonic's destruction of the scanner and Eggman's attempted exploitation of the Chaos Emerald. Right before… _that_.

When Eggman was quiet, bad things happened.

"Yeah…" Sonic responded, not elaborating yet, but letting whatever he was thinking sit for the moment.

He and Lucas quietly considered for a few minutes, but the conversation paused on the tone of a comma, like there was more to say. I waited intently to hear it. They both drew breath at the same time, their initial words clashing with each other, then both tried again with the same result.

"Ah, you first," Lucas laughed.

"…As far as I'm concerned, Eggman being gone just makes it easier for us to continue screwing this place up from the inside. Eggman won't even realize how low his android count is until he gets back, and—"

"At which point, all of this will catch up to us," the man finished for him, then shrugged when Sonic fixed him with a frown. "Just being honest."

"Maybe we can get out before then," Sonic dared to say. "Though if not… we kinda dug ourselves that hole already, you know? If Eggman's really been gone these last few days, then he's missed out on all the robots destroyed by you, me, or anyone else in Meka Tower. So he'll be irked when he gets back either way."

"Right, so, now that we've already screwed ourselves over, we might as well keep on doing whatever the hell we want."

Sonic blinked. "Are you being sarcastic?"

"No, I'm not!" the young male laughed genuinely. "Bad stuff's going to happen either way, so we might as well make this count, right?"

They were both trying to be optimistic. It helped them, talking about bad possibilities like they were just another part of the day. Maybe it disguised the toll all this had to be taking on them somewhere underneath. But I of all people shouldn't be making assumptions like that.

"Well… _yeah_," Sonic answered after a second.

"What's wrong, Sonic?"

The blue blur crossed his arms. "You stole my line!"

"Sonic," another voice greeted from the hallway. Espio. He was visible now, his scales matching the shade of the hallway lights.

"Espio," Sonic greeted him. "Nice to see ya. It's good timing."

"Just so you know what's going on and hopefully to provide some assurance, I figured I should tell you Tails has indeed been staying at the Master Emerald's cave and is keeping close watch. Whenever he has to leave, Amy takes his place, so there is always someone there. I just spoke with him yesterday, and he's got a sleeping bag in there now, along with one of his computers and his radar system."

"Isn't the radar system part of the Tornado?" Sonic asked.

"It can be. Apparently he can remove it or attach it now."

"Guess I shouldn't be surprised." Sonic paused and met his eyes. "Hey, have you been listening?"

"Of course. Don't take it personally, Sonic. It's what I do."

"We've got nothing to hide from you. No reason to be all secretive when you could have just joined in on the conversation."

Espio's eyes narrowed. "Maybe I wanted to see if you had anything interesting to say about yours truly."

"Heh, yeah? Insecure?"

"Absolutely not. Curiosity is in my nature."

"Sure it is. What's going on, Es? I'm sure you didn't come just to tell me about Knux's pet rock. Or, y' know, Tails's adopted pet rock."

"A couple things. One – Amy told me they know the location of another Chaos Emerald. Because I'm trying to preserve battery, we didn't talk much, so I don't know if they've actually gone after it yet, but they know where it is. If they _find _it, the power of the three Emeralds might be just enough to help us out in here. But first we have another issue to deal with. Or more specifically, _you _have another issue to deal with, Sonic. Which leads me to number two: I've found something out."

"What's that?" Sonic leaned against the wall, arms crossed.

"A particularly large squadron of H-series androids have you in their sights for the next closest scanner, since you apparently destroyed the one up here. I don't know what this is about. I only caught word of it as two of them were conversing on patrol. If I heard right, they'll be coming tomorrow morning. I'm not sure if this is of any real concern to you, but figured it would be wise to let you know just in case."

Sonic was still leaning against the wall, eyes closed now and a subtle grin donning his features. It was a look of overall nonchalance, acceptance… No, that wasn't quite it…

He was up to something. Espio had given him a lot of information, and he was working out ways to put it to use.

"Espio," he said after a minute, voice full of soft energy that made me want to know what was going to happen next almost as much as it made me dread it. "Let's you and me figure something out, here. And then I'm gonna need to borrow your communicator real quick."

xxx

"Wh-wh…what?"

His voice sounded hoarse to his own ears. Weak, fragile, and scratchy. Even though the storm was still raging, he heard his voice like it was only inside his head… as if his ears were clogged.

After a moment of strenuous thinking that took way longer than it should have, he determined that they _were_ clogged. He was lying down, so the rainwater that had gotten in those ears during the fight had sunken in.

He remembered what happened, knew how surprised and thrilled he should be to find himself alive, but couldn't find those emotions anywhere right now. In fact, he couldn't find much of anything. It was all lost in a heavy, blinding swirl of a headache…

Though he didn't want to, he made himself open his eyes and face the world in case the fight wasn't over yet.

Staring down at him was the tree.

"Ch-Chaos…"

Stunned and sore, Tails lifted the Chaos Emerald to shed some light on the bark. He tilted his head back further, trying to figure out why he hadn't been crushed when the tree was… _right there._

Before hitting the ground, the trunk had intersected with the other fallen tree that the Chaos Emerald had been near. Because of that, it was elevated about two feet off the ground.

He was alive because that tree had landed the way it had.

For some reason, Tails wanted to cry.

_Wait… but… where is that echidna?_

Making himself think through the rest of the circumstances now, Tails subtly and quietly looked to his left and right from his little space under the supported trunk. Almost subconsciously he pulled in his namesakes tight, for they were the most noticeable of his physical traits and he did not want to give himself away.

His attacker had his back faced to him and was searching around the other tree he had struck.

The phrase 'barking up the wrong tree' came into Tails's mind, but it didn't _quite _fit.

The dark guardian didn't know Tails had recovered the Chaos Emerald while he had turned to collapse more trees, nor had he been able to see where Tails had gone through the thick of the storm.

Tails took a deep breath and tried to squeeze his namesakes dry. He was utterly exhausted and the rain hadn't slowed. But if he could get out from this tangle of branches and just somehow fly, he could escape with the Chaos Emerald right now.

As he got himself out from under the trunk and forced himself to stand again, he realized that was way easier said than done. The 'tangle of branches' was more like a huge net of jagged, overgrown _limbs _of tree. It was going to be difficult at best to squeeze his way in between them without attracting the fake's attention, and that was if the fake didn't seek him out _without _provocation before then.

That monster would rip and claw his way through the chunks and scraps of tree in seconds if he knew the Chaos Emerald was there…

…_Okay. I have to get out._

He started off trying to be slow and careful, clutching the Emerald tightly to his chest to stunt its telltale light. There was no way to keep from snapping branches underneath his shoes, or from shifting larger branches aside with his hands and making them sway and crunch. Thankfully the echidna didn't notice – the noisy storm was more of a welcome distraction by now than it was a curse, even though his heart still dipped every time the world flashed white.

Once, he thought he felt that echidna coming towards him through the rain. He didn't hear nor see him; just had that instinctive hunch. He froze in place, ears perked and tails stiff, but heard nothing. Like an oblivious nutcase in a horror movie, he ever so slowly turned his head to make sure. He saw nothing, and turned back…

"Hh-!" Right in his face. The young fox _lurched _backwards and nearly destroyed the slight progress he had made, but managed to catch himself on a more stable branch at the last second. His heart felt loud in his head again.

Upon closer inspection he quickly realized that what had scared him was a stray branch that had begun to dangle right when he turned around. He held still for what he thought was a long, long time, afraid to move, afraid not to.

Then he heard footsteps – a sign of his enemy that was actually _legitimate – _and scrambled for dear life. He had to get out, had to get out. Foxes were supposedly sneaky, but Tails fighting a lethal force in a thunderstorm was _not. _Breathing heavily, he scraped his arms on branches and threw himself through webs of snapped sticks. Physically, he couldn't function like this right now, couldn't stand up straight and plow relentlessly through such abrasive obstacles, but he was anyway, because he _had to_. Had to. What was more important than getting the Chaos Emerald was _not _letting Eggman's side get it.

Not to mention his own life. That was pretty important too.

After a grueling half minute that seemed to last for an age, he finally breached the last of the branches and burst into open air and unblocked rain. He didn't glance back. He ran without stopping, spinning heavy namesakes and sending stray strands of water everywhere. Every few seconds a cloud of black ignited in his vision. Slowly the intervals between his bouts of ill faintness began to spread out. He didn't know if he was finally recovering or if it was just sheer willpower, but he didn't care. He had gotten away. He had the Chaos Emerald. He needed to keep it that way now, on both counts.

Seconds passed. Minutes. The echidna didn't notice his absence and he gradually felt more certain of a successful escape. His terror went down, leaving room now for other thoughts. Like what in the world he'd been thinking when he had been looking forward to the chance to challenge himself for a change. This… wasn't exactly what he'd had in mind. But he knew at least one person who'd still be grinning after a fight like this. He shook his head.

_I'll never know how you do it._

But he didn't have to. That was fine with him. He adored Sonic, but like with everyone, there were things they would never see the same way. For Tails, fights weren't a game. At least, not to that extent.

Thinking about Sonic – and Knuckles too, for obvious reasons – suddenly he hated that he was alone, that he had no reassuring arm around his shoulders or even anyone to be scared with him. Whining a little morosely, he wrapped his tails around himself and continued at a brisk pace. He felt lonely in the midst of his own residual fright and relief. He wanted to get back to the crystal shelter and see Amy, just to have someone to talk to. He didn't feel like he had willingly chosen to do this anymore; he felt like he had been stranded out here and hadn't seen anyone in days, despite that it had been little over an hour.

He again found himself thinking of the first Chaos Emerald that he and Sonic had found at the Mystic Ruins pond. He had thought of it once previously – ironically, right after he had found the_ second_ Chaos Emerald on Prison Island. The memory had upset him a little because of Sonic's hesitance to put up with his fear long enough to retrieve the gem. Such an innocent day had never gotten to him so much.

Tails reconsidered his friend's reluctance now, and suddenly he understood those feelings, understood how easy it was to be consumed by them, and how incredibly difficult it was to combat internal fear. He felt horrendous for_ ever_ thinking of that day sourly, especially after the fear and oppression they had all been called to face since then.

As he looked down at his Chaos Emerald, his prize, clutched tightly in both hands, he recalled his more recent talk with Sonic just a short time ago – while he had built the door for the Master Emerald shelter – and managed to smile. Despite the overall lousy hands they had been dealt, they _had_ risen to the challenge, and played those cards well.

He had never felt more proud of his brother, or of himself.

As his communicator suddenly beeped and Espio's voice came through, asking if he was there, the fox remembered that despite their victories so far, nothing had been _solved_ yet – only prevented – and there was much to do.

"Espio…" he said, not bothering to try and keep the fatigued breathlessness out of his voice. "I… this isn't a good time. Amy's watching the Emerald, don't worry… but I'll contact you as soon as… as soon as I get back."

It occurred to him as he spoke that it would take another fifteen minutes at least to get back to Amy and the Emeralds. His workshop, however, was only another mile… Yes, he could stop there for the moment, see what Espio needed to talk to him about.

"Tails!" came another voice, sounding a little concerned. "Are you okay?"

"S-_Sonic!_" the fox stammered, surprised and thrilled to hear that voice again. It still amazed him – how okay Sonic sounded despite everything, and how okay he _himself _sounded despite everything. "Hi, Sonic! Yeah… I'm almost back, just hang on a minute…"

The hedgehog promptly ignored that request, never fond of waiting. "You're out in this storm, aren't you? I can hear it pattering on the roof here. It's a strong one."

"Y-yeah, that's exactly what's going on." Tails was tickled: Sonic could hear the very storm he was caught up in. Sometimes he forgot Meka Tower really was part of the same world. It made him feel that much closer to the blue blur. "There was a Chaos Emerald, Sonic. I _had _to go get it!"

"Good for you," the blue blur said, and Tails had to strain to hear over the still-noisy weather around him. "That's totally awesome, Tails, and I hope you're as proud of yourself as I am. Just keep talking to me, okay? How far away are you from safety?"

"Only a few minutes from the workshop now… but I should probably go back to the place where the Master Emerald is."

"Don't worry about it right now," Sonic said. "You said Amy's watching it? She'll contact you if anything goes wrong, right?"

"Yeah."

"You should definitely go back soon, but dry off at your house first. Take care of yourself, eat something, or whatever. All right, bud?" Tails thought about this, realizing Sonic was probably right. He had forgotten about the scrapes and bruises he had sustained, and how cold he was. If nothing else, he could take half an hour or so to get himself back into decent shape. While he was thinking, Sonic continued on, "I think Amy will be able to take care of the other Emeralds just fine for now. Besides, I wanna talk to you."

Tails almost emphatically replied that he wanted to talk to him too, but sensed an undertone of significance in Sonic's voice and had a feeling there was something specific his friend meant by that. Curious, he asked, "What about?"

"If you're up for it, I could use your help with something."

Tails arrived at the Mystic Ruins and quickly made for his workshop. The storm was still roaring around him as he ran inside and shut the door, closing it out and sighing heavily. He unsnapped the radar from his communicator and let it fall to the floor along with his Chaos Emerald. Rainwater began to form a small puddle at his feet. He wrapped his arms and tails around himself again, shivering. "Okay, Sonic. I'm inside now."

"Sorry if I'm rushing you, pal. We'll have time to catch up on things when… well, when we have time."

"No worries," the fox said, though he was curious how Sonic's side of the battle was going. Even before that, though, he was _exhausted_. Everything was happening all at once. But if it meant actually _getting _somewhere, it was worth it. "I want to hear what you need help with!"

"Heh, okay, you asked for it. Well… first off, can your radar thingy detect places?"

"O-of course," the fox said, as if this was obvious. "It's a radar."

"Okay," Sonic replied, Tails's mildly cheeky tone going over his head. "So how many Chaos Emeralds do you have now?"

"Three."

"Sweet. And they can strengthen that radar, make it more advanced, right?" He didn't wait for the obvious answer. "Is there a way you could get it to show more detailed diagrams of the places it finds?"

Tails thought. "Yeah, that wouldn't be too hard. I'd just have to configure it a bit, which might take a few hours."

"That's fine, because we've _got_ a few hours. Exactly a few hours. It might keep you up most of the rest of the night, bro, but I really appreciate it."

"No problem, Sonic! I want to help, for sure. Sleep has a flexible schedule so I don't think it'll mind. Heh. But Sonic, you still haven't explained what this is all about, yet. What are you doing?"

"You and I," Sonic corrected, and Tails could hear the smile in his tone, "are going to destroy one more scanner."

"One? Weren't there four total?"

"Hah. I'm hoping we won't have _time _to destroy any more than one, because I want to be _out _of here by then. Getting antsy here, you know? So yeah, let's be optimistic and say one more. But with your smarts, we're going to find a way to do it quietly."

xxx

"_Time to fly!"_ _–Tails, Sonic Battle_

xxx

_In the next chapter: Sonic, Tails and Espio work together to attempt to destroy another scanner – and the former hopes to find an opportunity to escape all together. With three Chaos Emeralds now powering the radar, enabling Tails to discover the finer details of Meka Tower's interior, that juuust might be in the cards… but first the gang has other problems to take care of. Like why Sonic is being put in this situation again to begin with. There is more to the scanning than meets the eye, and… Oh dear, what is in that vial?_

Eh, sue me, I'm running outta Tails quotes. -_- Sorry. Anyway, hope you guys liked this chapter! As always, thanks for reading, and I'll see ya next time. :)


	26. Chapter 25: Subtlety

[If you got a notification for this chapter and the next, I apologize. I accidentally hit 'add' instead of 'replace' while trying to fix an error in this chapter. THIS IS THE ONLY NEW CHAPTER THAT IS UP RIGHT NOW. Just to clarify. Sorry. ._.]

DanceDream: Hah, really? That's neat that you kinda 'felt' the effects of that chapter. Tails woulda shared his hot chocolate with you! :P Glad you liked the battle scene and found it suspenseful, it was lots of fun and I didn't really know what was going to come of it until I wrote it! And yes, Sonic doesn't lose hope very easily. :) Aww, you think? XD I too love any excuse for Sonic and Tails to talk, but I suppose I kinda dug myself into a hole with the earlier parts of this story since they have been separated for so long without really being able to contact each other until recently. And you know, FFN was being terrible that day. This chapter couldn't decide whether to show up for like two days after I uploaded it, and kept displaying error messages. So I doubt it's your iPod Touch. I appreciate it all the same though. :) Thanks a lot for your comments!

Hey folks. This one might be a bit on the short side. It just kinda turned out that way, and I didn't wanna force-fill it, so it is what it is. I like how it turned out, but I'm more looking forward to the next one and _especially _the one after that. So, bear with me here, big stuff is a'coming. Hope you enjoy! Oh, and I know I haven't responded to your guys' comments yet – so sorry about the delay, time just got away from me and things have been busy! But I want to and fully intend to, I'm getting there and this week should grant me a little more time. In the meantime, thanks so much for your support so far; it does mean so much to me even if I can't always reply promptly. ^v^ Talk to you guys soon!

CHAPTER 25: SUBTLETY

"All right, we've got it," Tails said, looking at the radar's rendition of the scanner room. Just as he and Sonic had guessed, it taken almost the entire night to tweak it, and get it to cooperate with the third Chaos Emerald. In the few free minutes he had wedged out for himself, the fox had tended to his wounds, showered, and made himself a cup of hot chocolate. That had been Sonic's idea – he himself had insisted on getting right to work. "I've got the second scanner up on my screen. Looks like it's about four spirals down the tower from where you guys are. Sound right?"

He noticed very quickly that there was something of interest above their current location as well, but saw that it looked like a storage area and decided to focus on what mattered right now instead.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Sonic replied, before Espio gestured for the communicator. He held it up to the bars so the chameleon could speak into it.

"Yes, Tails. That is the closest scanner, barring the one Sonic already disabled. That's where the androids would take him."

"Okay." Tails nodded even though they couldn't see him. "Now just let me zoom in on the scanner itself – heh, it kind of looks like an egg – okay, I've got a view of the scanner's interior." At first the view looked very blurry and pixelated, but came into better resolution in a flurry of fits and starts. The small device began to glow slightly as its Chaos energy became more active. "Hmm…"

"Can you figure anything out?"

"Yeah, actually, I'm getting some really precise details now. If this functions like I think it does, you'll be able to sever its connection to the database by cutting the correct few wires. It'll still appear to function, but all its data will be deleted, and it won't be able to report anything new to the central processing unit. And Eggman won't even know why he's not receiving the data unless he can find the snipped wires himself."

"Tails… just tell me what I need to do?" Sonic said tentatively.

"…Cut the correct wires," the fox reiterated obviously. "You'll have to go inside the scanner pod like they want you to. Is that okay?"

Sonic made a face. "Uh, yeah, I guess."

"I know it's not your favorite thing, but it's the only way to do what we need to do here. Some of the wires will be exposed on the inside of the scanner, most of them ultimately connected to screens in the room to display data so the androids can see it, but a few are connected to the unit itself. Those ones will be red, and… hold on a second…" He rotated the diagram around by sliding one finger across the screen, altering the angle of the three-dimensional render, and squinted at it. "There should be two. Do you have something sharp?"

"Yeah. With all the robot shreds here, we've got enough sharp somethings to make a decent kitchen set."

"Okay, good," Tails laughed.

"I'll slip one in my glove, and keep it hidden until I need it."

"Sounds good, as long as you don't slice yourself with it. Also… is Espio still there?"

"Yup," Sonic replied, gesturing for the detective to listen even though he already was.

"Espio, I think it'd be a good idea for you to sneak in with Sonic. Not in the scanner, but into the room. The central processing unit is on the far right side of the room, and if all the files displayed on the screen above it are anything to go by, it contains a lot more than just scanner data. It might have the whole collection of Eggman's files."

"Right. I'll destroy it."

"No," Tails said quickly. "Or, I don't know… I guess you guys are the ones in there, so it's your judgment call. But I suggest you get a hold of the data so we can figure out what Eggman is up to! It's a great opportunity to get some valuable information that could help us!"

Sonic let out a low whistle. "I think he's right, Es. I destroyed the CPU in this floor's scanner room and obviously Eggman's plans didn't go anywhere, so destroying it won't help. We may be able to get rid of the scanner's data again, but I think Eggman's other documents are all over the place. Destroying one copy wouldn't do anything."

"Exactly," the fox said. "And our com-links do more than communicate with people. Turn it over; on the underside of the screen there's a code. It's the link's individual identity. If you type it on the computer in that room, you'll be able to establish a wireless connection, in the same way that our communicators are connected wirelessly right now, and download the files."

"And then what?" Espio asked. "Data retrieval isn't exactly my specialty."

"The screen can display the content. I know it's a small screen, and you'll have to do a lot of scrolling, but it's the best we've got."

Espio blinked. "I must admit, I am glad Sonic asked for your help."

"That's why I'm here," the fox said happily. "If this goes right, you guys can kill two birds with one stone, and not even draw the androids' attention! And we'll be that much closer to freeing Meka Tower, hopefully."

"You didn't disappoint, Tails," Sonic told him. "Not that I thought you would. And these metal heads should be here any _mmph—_!"

"What? I didn't hear you."

Sonic was cut off suddenly as two of the metal heads in question materialized in his cell, gripping his arms securely and yanking them behind his back. Several other things occurred simultaneously: Lucas shot to his feet, Tails went quiet, and Espio conformed to his surroundings in a flash.

"You were saying, hedgehog?" a computerized voice asked darkly.

"…Any millisecond," Sonic finished under his breath, cocking an eyebrow at the android who had asked. Out of the corner of his eye he saw other androids appearing out in the hallway. There were eight including the two hanging onto him. "Brought me a parade, did you. I suppose I should pretend to feel flattered."

"What's this?" asked the other android in his ear, prying open his hand and taking the communicator. "I've never seen you with this before. Do tell."

"A watch, duh," Sonic said, not missing a beat. "What, never seen one before? It's Lucas's." He nodded his head sideways towards the cell next to him. "I'd asked him if I could see it."

"Did you, now? Is this so, Lucas?"

"Well yeah," Lucas said, pulling off a convincing expression of annoyance. "Are we seriously going to have drama over a watch? Sonic just wanted to see the time."

"Return the watch to him," said one of the androids in the hallway. "It's not our concern anyway. You are getting distracted."

"I suppose I am," it finally responded, indifferently tossing the item to Lucas through the bars and reinforcing its grip on Sonic. The blue blur saw Lucas catch the device and inconspicuously feed it through the front bars, where the invisible Espio hastily retrieved it. Hedgehog and human winked at each other simultaneously.

"We have Sonic securely. Open the door and we will take him down to the scanner."

One of the androids outside the cell stepped forward, promptly obeying the order and swinging the gate all the way open. To keep character, Sonic twisted against the tight grips of the robots.

"It's funny how you still think you have a chance of escaping," the one to his right said, squeezing his arm to the point of pain as it shined its glowing blue eyes in the hedgehog's face. Sonic smirked.

_It's funny how you're totally buying this._

"Here," said the android who had opened his cell, handing one of its accomplices the key. "Please put this back where it belongs with haste."

Wordlessly, its partner took the key and strode away, turning out of the spiral a few yards down. As Sonic was dragged out of his cell, he caught sight of Kai, hovering in the air not too far away. Upon being spotted, the chao retreated quickly and followed the android with the key. Sonic wanted to call to Kai, ask what the deal was, but didn't know if that was a wise idea in the midst of the seven androids.

He was surrounded completely now, sandwiched between two rows of androids that filled out the width of the hallway. One remained at each side, holding his arms tightly as they all began to walk as one.

xxx

"So, question," Sonic said nearly half an hour later as they completed the last massive spiral, reaching the floor on which their destination lie. "If you guys can teleport, why are we doing this the hard way?"

"Believe me, hedgehog, if we could do it the easy way we would. Our advanced warping abilities are a combination of superior technical design and small amounts of Chaos energy. Seeing as how you have neither of those, us attempting to warp with you would likely result in us going and you staying."

"Really," the blue blur said thoughtfully. "Wanna try just to make sure?"

"No."

Sonic sighed. "And to think I could have run to that scanner and back already."

None of the eight androids responded. As they continued on in silence, the hedgehog realized just how very silent it was. It was heavy on his ears, like some kind of vague, dull pressure.

"Hey," he said after a moment, trying to make himself taller in the robots' grip, "is there anyone on this floor? Why's it so…"

He trailed off, letting the sentence die prematurely as he met eyes with one of the prisoners. There were people here, all right… but the atmosphere felt drastically different. It was empty, eerie, and the person he had just looked at seemed so lifeless. The floor's setup was identical to his floor, yet it suddenly felt like an entirely different place. Had it been like this on the way down the other two spirals, as well? Had he been too wrapped up in mouthing off the androids to notice…?

"What's going on, guys?" he tried again, not sure this time if he was addressing the androids or the prisoners. "What changed from there to here?"

Again, he was ignored, though it stung quite a bit more to be ignored by humans than by Eggman's androids. They veered down a branch hallway before he could get another look, heading towards the center of the floor. He looked over his shoulder, the spiral hallway beginning to grow smaller in his vision, wanting to say something to the prisoners while he was still in earshot but unable to come up with anything that seemed adequate.

They had looked miserable, not only emotionally but physically. Weak. Starved. Unhealthy. What could he say or do to fix that?

I don't understand…

Before he could get wrapped up in the thought, his view of the hallway was cut off abruptly by a door and he was thrown on the ground. He immediately pushed back up and got himself oriented, looking around. The room was identical to the one that had once contained the scanner on the top floor. Its walls were white and curved, framing the area in a circle. Thin, high-definition screens covered them, leaving very few naked spots in between. Some contained lists of prisoners' names; others had unreadable coding and techno-babble; and others still displayed scientific diagrams of human bodies, his own body, and close-ups of the molecules in Chaos Emeralds…

He tore his eyes away from the wall, realizing there was so much he didn't know and becoming frustrated at his own cluelessness. A thought picked at the back of his mind persistently: had Espio made it in the room? He was their only way to find out what everything on the screens meant. Sonic wondered if the detective would give him some kind of sign, if it was even possible to make himself noticeable and be inconspicuous to the androids at the same time. His mind raced frantically, part of him wanting to trust his friends and stick to the original plan, part of him wanting to destroy the eight androids so he could fetch the data himself…

His decision was made for him as he was grasped again and forced forward, towards the scanner. "Have you had any water lately?" an android asked him, to which he might have responded with ironic sarcasm if a small container wasn't shoved in his face right then. "Drink. Now. We have found the system gets a more accurate read if the subjects are well-hydrated."

"Hey, watch your tone!" Sonic snapped. It was one thing to be subtle about destroying the scanner, but he wasn't about to start putting up with robots' domineering attitudes now. Regardless, the glass was tilted towards his mouth, and with his arms held tightly he could do little to stop them.

Moments later he was shoved into the oval pod that was the scanner. Running on autopilot, he reached into his glove with the opposite hand and pulled out the piece of sharp metal he had smuggled in. He had eyes only for red wires as he searched the interior of the scanner, ignoring the insistent automated demands telling him to stay still. If he didn't hurry the androids would realize something was up. He had to resist the urge to destroy the scanner right then and there, wanting so badly to start spinning in his ball form and just let the thing shatter like glass around him like before… it would be so easy.

But there were eight androids out there. Their bodies took up a third of the room's space, and there would never have been enough room to gather speed as it was. He had to try and find the wires. If the androids made the first move, he would destroy the scanner and attempt to fight them, but until then he had to stick to the plan. Besides, Espio would likely get hurt too if this turned into a fight… and the CPU, for that matter…

This couldn't turn into a fight. They needed Espio. They needed that data. And getting beat up by eight H-series robots would not help anyone.

"Hedgehog, quit squirming in there," one of the androids called. "Be still and save the restlessness for later."

Sonic continued seeking the two red wires. There was a horizontal blue light moving up and down across his body, and some kind of mechanism trying to get a hold of his feet and keep him still. He moved around like he was stepping on nails, refusing to let the machine do its job just in case he couldn't destroy it.

"Sonic the hedgehog, if I have to open this to check on you, you will be sorry."

He saw a smooth area near the top of the pod and ran his hand along it. To his relief, it slid open, revealing the mechanics of the scanner to him. Immediately he saw the two red wires, running vertically parallel to one another. With swiftness and precision, Sonic drew the piece of metal across both wires, severing them neatly without touching anything else around them. Then, confident that the data would be lost as Tails said, he finally let his feet be encased by the machine.

The device locked itself around his shoes, then two circular locks extended from side walls and snapped themselves around his wrists, pulling his arms straight out. He had just enough time to shoot one of the cuffs an irked look before being spun around quickly as the blue light ran up and down his body.

He closed his eyes briefly, finding himself nervous. He had never actually done this before. This was a tight area and things were holding his wrists and ankles in place. He didn't like that feeling, even knowing it was temporary, and being scanned felt like an intrusion. Taking a breath, he tried to think about something else. Like being outside. Rooftops. Horizon lines. Flowers.

It took all of ten seconds. He was halted facing the front of the machine again, which slid open anticlimactically. As the androids hurriedly grabbed for him, he began to feel unsettled. Was it just because he had been turned around several times in the machine? But he turned around on his own all the time…

"All right, hedgehog. Now would that have been so difficult to do the first time?"

Sonic was the one giving the cold shoulder now, though it was more because he was distracted than anything. He was looking for any sign of Espio, any indication that he had gotten Eggman's data, but was finding none. His oddly blurry vision wasn't doing him any favors either.

They started heading back to the top floor. Sonic spent the better part of the journey trying to regain his bearings. Something felt off, but it was so indistinct that he didn't know what to attribute it to. All he knew was that he wanted to sit down and close his eyes, and let his body sort itself out. He tried to recall the last time he had eaten. Yesterday evening, a few hours before bed…

When they were almost back, the slightest whisper pressed through his thoughts and brought him to a slightly higher level of awareness. It was Espio, sounding surprisingly alarmed despite his normal composure and the quietness of his voice:

"You should not have drank that water."

xxx

_"Idle hands can be a dangerous thing, Sonic." –Tails, Sonic Rush_

xxx

Sorry to everyone I trolled by ending this chapter on the same cliffhanger that was implied in the preview. XD Hehh… Next time it'll make sense, I promise.

Thanks for reading! Responses are coming sooner this time, for the previous chapter and this one. See you guys next time! :)

_In the next chapter: Sonic is in danger from the inside. But a certain pink hedgehog might know just what to say and do... Also, Espio reads Doctor Eggman's notes to Sonic and – "Wait, _wait_. He actually typed out laughter in his file? Eggman's enjoying this way too much. I'm a hedgehog, not a guinea pig. I mean, sheesh—"_


	27. Chapter 26: Chaotic Spiral

DanceDream: Heh, indeed, it's about time they actually had a real plan! Now hopefully that doesn't get messed up by the events of this chapter. XD But things are definitely taking more shape from here on out, as you and everyone else are gonna see real soon. Hey, I appreciate the time you take to read and comment, so no need to apologize! Thanks so much! :) Hee, yeah, either they're good actors or the robots are a lousy audience. *shot* But Sonic does know how to think fast after all. Oh, and yeah, you're pretty much right on about the lower floors. Now if only our characters here would realize that as quickly. ;) LULZ, guess that's a good thing those scanners aren't used in airports! I don't think I would like flying very much then… XD At least Tails could get off easy and just take his own plane. XD LOL, glad you liked the preview. Even mad doctors need a sense of humor, albeit a dark one..~ Thanks very much for sharing your thoughts, DanceDream! Hope you like the update!

x

Huh. Something's happened to my Microsoft Word, where it won't preserve any formatting. I write the story all in one document, then copy each individual chapter to a new one when I'm ready to upload, but nothing is preserved 'cept for the text. That means italics and such, and sometimes even paragraphs indents. So if you guys see anything that looks like it should be italicized (like someone's thoughts), please feel free to let me know. Bear with me; I've tried to fix it all manually, but I might have missed something. Hope you guys enjoy! :)

CHAPTER 26: CHAOTIC SPIRAL

"You should not have drank that water. Dilute it at the first opportunity."

Sonic's eyes darted to where he now knew Espio was, even though he still couldn't see the detective. He didn't dare respond yet, and Espio didn't dare say anything more. Thankfully, the androids had not heard him over the noise of their own mechanical hum and their clanking footsteps. They shoved Sonic back into his cell and slammed the gate, making a quick leave.

Espio became visible again, and on his communicator's display screen was the data they had been after. His eyes moved left to right as he continued skimming through the information intently.

"What? What is it?" Sonic asked, tone rising, wanting to read too.

"Nothing good." The chameleon kept on reading and didn't elaborate further.

Sonic cranked on the faucet and took frantic gulps of water, complaining in between about not having a cup and getting his fur all wet. Lucas watched on with mild amusement. "…Thirsty?"

"Sure," Sonic said between swallows, barely pausing.

"…What's wrong."

"No idea. Ask Espio." He wiped his face off on his arm and looked up at the chameleon as Lucas did. "Should I, like, throw up or something, Es?"

"It's too late for that to matter," he said reluctantly. "It'll already be absorbed into your system… The best you can do is dilute it."

"What's wrong?" Lucas repeated, voice rising.

"I got information about Eggman's latest plan," Espio said. "I was reading it the entire walk up here. Tails, Amy; are you listening too? There is a lot to tell, and I'd prefer to tell everyone at once."

"Yeah," the two replied at once via com-link. Tails asked, "What's going on?"

Espio took a breath. "The scanners have little bearing on anything anymore," he said slowly. "And there were only ever four. Apparently they've been considered obsolete for some time now. His first method at trying to control people was rendered ineffective almost one month ago now as far as he knows," the detective met Sonic's eyes and nodded once, "which in turn rendered the scanners useless for any further studies. Any other purpose he'd had for the scanners is pointless for this new plan."

"Waitwaitwait," Lucas said. "I find that hard to believe. If he really didn't have any reason for the scanners anymore, why'd he just have Sonic examined by one?"

"It was a trick," Espio said, eyes trained on the blue blur, "a plan disguised as another plan. He doesn't care what the results showed him, Sonic. He wanted his robots to have you drink that liquid. It looked and tasted like water to you, but it was blended with liquefied Chaos energy. Negative Chaos energy."

Something like dread stirred in Sonic's stomach. That was what Eggman had been trying to do all along.

Was he really his own?

"A-A lot of it?"

"No, thankfully. Not nearly as much as what would have been in the Chaos Emerald, at any rate. But it was the best the doctor could do for now, and it is still enough to be worrisome."

"The Chaos Emerald?" Sonic repeated. "See, that's what I don't get. Chaos Emeralds have both kinds of energy, yet he automatically thinks I would use negative energy? What kinda sense does that make?"

"But Sonic," Lucas interjected, "You choose whether or not to absorb Chaos energy, but you don't really choose _which_ kind of energy to use, do you? Your thoughts and emotions do…"

_Fear. _

If that wasn't a negative emotion he didn't know what was.

"Anyway," Espio said, clearing his throat and continuing his explanation. "It looks like he exploited the process that GUN once used to create Chaos Drives to power their robots. By building upon that foundation…" his eyes moved quickly left to right as he read directly from the screen now, saying Eggman's words, "… 'I have been able to harness very concentrated amounts of negative Chaos energy. It is the best I can do, though I do not know yet if it will be enough energy for me to gain the control I desire. It is, after all, a small amount, despite how concentrated it is. My hope is that its pure darkness will compensate for this.'"

"Wait," Sonic said again. "How does Eggman know how GUN powered their robots?"

"The same reason the rise of Meka Tower hasn't been stopped yet," Espio said severely. "His androids have overpowered GUN just as they have overpowered thousands of people here. The threat they pose is keeping GUN from taking significant action."

"Eggman has _that_ many androids? But… But I thought we were…" Sonic cut off and stared at the floor.

"Thought you were winning? Here, from inside a cell?" Espio shook his head. "Even for you, that kind of optimism is naïve. All you've done is prevent things from getting worse right here where you are. Your rebellion might even do more harm than good, ultimately. Don't you see?" Espio thought of what Knuckles had told him. "You're not putting a_ dent_ in these androids. You're only getting rid of the ones patrolling the inside of the tower – you know, the same ones that _supply people with food and necessities_ – and Eggman isn't replacing them! He's letting you teach yourself and Meka Tower a lesson!"

Sonic looked about ready to collapse inside himself. As Espio watched the hedgehog's expression crumple into something lost and uncertain, he stopped himself, and realized what he had done.

"Espio…" Lucas said, looking torn. "Why… why didn't you say something earlier?"

"I spoke with Knuckles and learned of this weeks ago…" he replied. "At the time, I had thought… that he was overreacting. And at the time, things had just come around up here. It looked like you guys had just gotten your feet beneath you again after… what happened. I didn't want to shatter the morale again." For the first time in what had to be years, Espio felt his voice catch in his throat. "I am sorry."

"So we… haven't done anything," Sonic said simply.

Espio met his eyes grimly. "You have survived. Both of you. All of you. Right now it seems insignificant, but one day, one day soon, it might mean everything that you are still here. Still fighting. Still willing."

"But until then, we're just going to keep wasting time?" the hedgehog shot back impatiently. "That's all we've been doing?"

"Don't say that!" Lucas snapped, turning to Sonic now. "You kept Eggman from doing something horrible to everyone here! That much still holds… right, Espio? Right?"

Espio nodded. "But even that won't matter… if the Chaos energy inside you right now changes you, Sonic."

And just like that, the fire in his eyes was back like it had never left. "No _way_! If he thinks I'm going to let that go to waste now…!"

"Guys!" Tails interrupted. They had all forgotten he and Amy were still listening. "Can Espio finishing explaining so Sonic might know what to do about this? We can't waste time!"

"Yes, Espio!" Amy agreed.

"Right," the chameleon said, and he, Sonic and Lucas quickly gathered themselves. It was time to think like heroes. "Okay – here's where I left off in Eggman's explanation. 'My mistake before lied in believing that people had to willingly draw upon Chaos energy in order for it to be utilized. They do not; not if the energy can be forced in them. Since Sonic has the ability to use the Chaos Emeralds, he will be the first to undergo this, and he will not even realize it until it's too late! Actually, that is just an excuse. I could test this on anyone in the upper levels; it doesn't have to be Sonic. The scanners have determined everyone who is compatible with Chaos energy. I just really want to try it on Sonic first, quite frankly. Hooohoho.'"

Espio was interrupted once more by an exasperated sigh from said blue hedgehog, who had crossed his arms and begun tapping one foot. "Wait, wait. He actually typed out laughter? Eggman's enjoying this way too much. I'm a hedgehog, not a guinea pig. I mean, sheesh—"

"Shh," Lucas hissed at him. "Let Espio finish!"

Sonic blinked. "I amend my statement. You're enjoying this way too much."

"I meant so we can figure out how to fix it!" Lucas said defensively. "…Smartass."

"Yeah, yeah. He thinks he can control me, make me do what he wants, prove that it's possible to use Chaos energy to drive a human army. This, that and the other thing… but we've been down similar roads. And actually, this seems like a non-issue by comparison to some things! I mean, a fun-sized amount of negative Chaos energy?"

"Sonic," Espio said, not looking up from the screen. "Have you ever been exposed to negative Chaos energy?"

"I… well, not yet, but…"

"You've spent your entire life adapting to the positive energy of the Chaos Emeralds to the point where you can use them with ease," the chameleon said. "I'm no expert, but if what I've heard from Knuckles here and there is anything to go by, negative Chaos energy is a whole separate realm."

"But I've never purposely drawn on only _positive_ Chaos energy," Sonic said. "It's just what happens. The Emeralds are fueled by emotion, after all, like we were saying."

"Not in this instance," the chameleon said lowly. "Negative Chaos energy was introduced to your system by force. It doesn't matter what_ you_ feel like when that's all that's there!"

Shock flitted across his face as he grasped Espio's meaning, and the worst possibilities popped into his mind. He uncrossed his arms and let them fall to his sides as he approached the bars slowly, looking at Espio straight on. "Then I just won't use it at all. Right? I mean… he can't control me, right?"

"I don't know, Sonic."

"Sonic!" Amy said suddenly through the com-link, making everyone jump. "You _can_ resist it, Sonic! Good is stronger than evil, either way!"

"The problem is," Espio insisted, "there_ is_ no good to draw upon."

"No good to draw upon? That's not true," Tails chimed in. "Who needs some magical energy to beat something difficult, anyway? Haven't we all proved that by now?" The eight-year-old let his rhetorical questions linger encouragingly in the air for a moment. "You have a lot of strength _without_ having help from energy, Sonic. And you have your friends. So if you believe in yourself, and I know you do… then so do we."

xxx

The moment came about an hour after the daytime lights went out.

It looked like a shadow without a source had been cast only on his body. His emerald eyes shone a red reflection even though there was nothing red nearby. A black aura surrounded him, somehow glimmering and glowing despite its dark color…

As soon as he started to notice the changes, it seemed obvious. Of course that was how it would manifest itself. It was negative Chaos energy. Of course it would make him look slightly different. Just as a burst of positive Chaos energy would give him a bright aura… negative energy would give him a dark one.

Something went wrong inside, something beyond the physical. The world didn't look right; he was viewing it through fog and angry storm clouds. The quiet whispers of Espio, Tails and Lucas seemed more like screams, banging harshly on his eardrums… vibrating incomprehensibly like loud bass.

Sonic rose.

The noise stopped.

"Sonic…?" Lucas asked, having seen him immediately. He approached their window with an uncertain look in his eyes.

The hedgehog took several steps towards him.

"Er, Sonic, I…" Lucas stammered, retreating to keep a safe cushion of distance even though there were bars between them.

Sonic stopped abruptly. He blinked, afraid to move.

_Is he… scared of me? But… but I…_

"Lucas," he said in a whisper, still at the window. He grabbed one of the bars and tried to bend it, just to see if there was a chance he could break out of his cell with this extra power…

"Stop," the man said shortly. "Stop that."

"What? That's… that not what I was trying to… Lucas!" the hedgehog looked at him desperately, sounding hurt. "Remember what we talked about? We said… we said we'd trust each other to be able to handle whatever lies ahead. Right?"

Upon hearing Sonic's words, Lucas made his way back to the window slowly. Once there, he met his friend's eyes and smiled slightly. "It's just that… you look a little strange, Sonic. Not that you don't look strange anyway," he joked. "But… I didn't know if the Chaos energy had affected you…"

"And it might yet," Espio interrupted. "If Eggman's notes are anything to go by… you're in for a rough night, hedgehog."

Sonic turned to look at the detective. His quills didn't sway like they usually did; they had gone rigid and stiff at the mention of Eggman. A rush of thoughts swarmed his mind like wasps. The capsule on Space Colony ARK, the magnets that had once been beneath his skin, the battles he had fought, the water suffocating him endlessly—

"Don't talk about him," Sonic breathed, voice quivering for reasons he couldn't pinpoint.

"Espio?" Amy asked through the communicator. "Is everything okay?"

"I'm not certain," Espio replied, eyes not leaving Sonic's. "Where is Tails?"

"Guarding the Master Emerald. He told me I should go back to the workshop since I'm hanging onto our three Chaos Emeralds, and he doesn't want them all in the same place. Can I talk to Sonic?"

"Not right now. Give me a moment."

"But—"

"Please."

Espio let his arm drop to his side. He watched Sonic turn his back and lean against the gate, clutching his head as if in pain. The aura grew darker, like it was a void trying to suck him in. Espio almost wanted to back away, fearing the dark energy would somehow spread to him if he came in contact with it, but held his ground as Sonic stood there writhing and trembling in the field of black.

Though his mind raced behind those focused bronze eyes, Espio couldn't comprehend what could have made Sonic react like that. At least, not until the blue blur said in a quiet, almost sad voice: "I can't escape the memories…"

Reservations aside, Espio reached through the bars and turned Sonic around by the shoulder. If the detective was uncomfortable, it didn't show in his expression. He met Sonic's eyes and held his gaze as well as his forearm. It was partially a gesture of concern and comradeship, but the way his fingers tightened also served as a warning as he said, "Remember who you are, Sonic."

A minute passed in silence. No one could tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Sonic looked like he was caught in a phase of transformation. Right in between. He wasn't normal, but wasn't Chaotic yet either.

"Here," Espio said when no one else broke the silence. "Take my communicator for a few minutes. Amy wants to speak to you." Espio undid the wrist strap and stuck the communicator through the bars. Sonic carefully took it from him.

"A-Amy?"

"You listen to me, Sonic the hedgehog," she demanded in a firm voice. "I do not want you to dignify Eggman with another thought right now! That's dangerous ground with the negative energy going through you, and he's not even worthy of your concern anyway! Tails and Espio and I have worked hard to get things this far, and you've worked hard too. This is not the time to let a fun-sized amount of Chaos energy get to you, and I think you know that. Maybe you don't have control of what's going on inside you right now, maybe you're thinking and feeling some pretty nasty things… but you have control of your reactions, and you are one of the most strong-willed people I know. You care about making this situation turn out right, and you care about your friends and all the people who are trapped in that tower with you. It's that confidence and conviction that makes me believe in you, Sonic… and I don't know if you have half the faith or respect for me as I do for you, but… right now all that matters is that you have faith in you."

"Amy, I have a lot of faith in you," Sonic said, surprised that she thought he didn't.

"Is that the_ only_ thing you heard?" she asked. "Is that all?"

"No. I…" the blue hedgehog paused. "Thank you, Amy."

The girl's voice grew quieter but retained its firmness as she said, "Keep talking to me, Sonic. Okay?"

"Y-yeah," Sonic stammered. "Okay. What do you want to talk about?"

She chuckled. "Oh, just _stuff,_ silly. I'm trying to keep you from thinking too much about what's happening to you right now. Is it working?"

Sonic realized that it had been up until that point. At the direct mention of it, though, he became hyperaware of the darkness around him and within him, the twisted power trying to influence the worst of his thoughts and motivations… For a moment he was launching himself around the cell violently, smashing dents into the walls, going insane with the need to escape and exact true justice on his enemy… but it was all in his head. He had not moved an inch.

He took a breath and slid down against the wall, placing his hands on the ground as if he could root himself there. He didn't want to think that way…

"Sonic? Say something."

"…Something."

Amy laughed lightly. "You're so cute sometimes. Did you hear what I said before?"

He tried to locate the thought. She had said asked if she was distracting him, right? "Yeah," he answered aloud, trying to focus on the conversation. "I think it is. Guess I have a short attention span even for Chaos energy, huh?"

"Hmph. Well you certainly have a short attention span for me."

"I just have a short attention span."

"Well, nice to know it's nothing personal."

"Right. Uh… so, you have the Chaos Emeralds right now?"

"That's right," she said. Sonic found himself trying desperately to concentrate on each individual word, the definition, the sounds of letters merging together. _Do you have the Chaos Emeralds right now… right now… That's right. That's right. _"Tails leaves me in charge of these while he watches the Master Emerald. And if he needs to come back to the workshop or go somewhere real quick, we switch. It works pretty well, really."

"What about the rest of Chaotix?" He pictured Vector and Charmy in his mind's eye, trying to hold them in place there, at the forefront.

"They kind of broke off contact after we got the Master Emerald. I think they have their own problems right now."

"Yeah, that's right," Sonic said. "I forgot they were having a hard time financially."

"All the more reason for us to set things right!" Amy said hopefully. "I hate seeing them struggle, especially after all they've helped us."

Espio cleared his throat, reminding them that one member of the Chaotix was in fact present. "I appreciate the concern, but I'm sure we will be fine. It's not the first time we've had a problem like this, and we have always toughed it out. Thankfully it hasn't happened in a while, as we've had a mostly steady rise in clientele since we started. Things will right themselves if we can free everyone."

"Yeah," Sonic said, "and I think we're getting closer. Not sure how yet, but if we can keep digging into Eggman's data, we may be able to figure things out." _Eggman's data… Eggman…_

"That's my Sonic," Amy said cheerfully. "It's not right that you guys are all still trapped in there! Maybe Espio can even transfer that data to Tails, and he and I can sift through it too?"

"Yeah, maybe. That's up to you guys, really."

"Hey Sonic," she said at his quiet tone, "it's kind of late. Would it be better if I let you try to sleep? I don't want to make things worse by…"

"No," the hedgehog said quietly, surprised to hear the word come past his own lips. "Don't leave, Amy. The last thing I need is silence right now."

"I… I won't," she promised. "I'll stay with you all night if you want. I miss you so much."

"Eheh… I miss you too, Amy, but I shouldn't ask you to do that. You're tired. We were all up the entire night last night too."

"Do you honestly think I care?" Amy asked. "Don't act all nice and noble on my behalf. You know me better than that, Sonic. And besides…" he could hear the smile in her voice when she spoke next, "how often do we have an excuse to just talk? Don't get me wrong, I hate that this is happening, and I can't stand to know you're suffering… but I love that you want to talk to me."

"Tone down the drama," Sonic said gently. "I'm not suffering. It's not that bad. Not anymore, anyway, thanks to you."

"R-really?"

"Yeah," he replied honestly, finding it remarkably easy to focus on the hope and joyfulness in his friend's tone. "So… talk to me."

xxx

It was a night that should have been long, but the hours went by like minutes as Sonic and Amy became engrossed in their conversation, talking about everything from the details of their current grim situation to why Amy mistook Shadow for him despite obvious differences. Tails and Espio got better acquainted with Lucas in the meantime, discussing where they would go from here and picking apart Eggman's plan a bit more. Every now and then, Tails asked for a status report or exchanged thoughts with Espio about the chameleon's exploration of the prison.

Only several hours later did the blue blur finally begin to nod off. His eyes had fully regained their vibrant green color, but the untouchable dark aura still lingered about him; a surefire sign that the negative energy was still there, if not somewhat more dormant. Sensing the fatigue in his tone, Amy began humming gently, pausing now and then to ask if he was still awake. By the third time, he was fast asleep and didn't mumble any acknowledgement of her words.

xxx

Sonic awoke late the next morning to find himself looking normal.

Quietly, he sat up, examined himself, and stretched. He felt physically tired and a little weak, but otherwise okay. It was relieving to say the least. But some part of him had to wonder if that hadn't been too easy. Was it over? Had the Chaos energy worn off for good?

He thought back on last night.

Even if it had, he didn't like what it had shown him. Chaos energy only fed on feelings that were already there. And those feelings that had intensified and burned so deeply… they were truly his?

Some part of him, deep inside, was still scared after what had happened?

Some part of him, deep inside, wanted Eggman gone… for good?

On a conscious level, it didn't make any sense. He didn't feel like he wanted that. Not fully and truly. What would he do with himself?

He picked up Espio's communicator, which was laying at his side. "Amy, you there? Tails?"

"Sonic! You're awake!"

"Heya Sonic, you're sounding all right! How's it going?"

"Good, good!" he said, pushing the worst of his musings to the back of his mind. Like always. "I'm glad we were up all night the other night, too. Slept really good last night and I think that had something to do with it. How about you guys?"

"I'm great," Amy said.

"I'm pretty good too, only it's kind of hard to get a good night's sleep in this place."

"With the Master Emerald?" Sonic asked.

"Yup," Tails replied, "as usual. But it's all good."

"Awesome. Well, I just wanted to check up. I should probably give Espio's communicator back to him. But one last thing… Amy? I wanted to say thank you again for last night. I… I couldn't have done it without ya."

"It's the least I could do," she said softly. "After all, there have been a ton of things I wouldn't have been able to do without you."

They both shared a smile that neither of them could see. Not getting up from where he was still sitting comfortably in his sleeping bag, Sonic tossed the communicator through the bars to Espio, who had just appeared there.

"You've been here all night?"

"Yes," Espio said. "I managed to stay blended into my environment while sleeping against the wall outside your cell. At least… I think I managed to stay blended."

"So what's the scoop, then? Is there anything to talk about?"

Espio nodded. "Eggman will know the negative energy works, but I don't think he is stupid enough to produce more of it after what just happened to you. There's something Eggman didn't take into account at first that he must be aware of now: good and evil is subjective. He assumed that if he set someone up with negative Chaos energy, their goals would be the same as his, because he's evil. But he was wrong. We're all shaped by our experiences."

"Isn't that the truth," Sonic muttered. "Es, I… It bothers me, what I felt like."

Espio met his eyes. "You wanted to kill him… didn't you?"

"I_ don't_ want to kill him, though," the hedgehog said, genuineness layered with defensiveness. "Are you trying to tell me that was a real desire, just because the Chaos energy made me think that way?"

The chameleon shook his head. "You know I don't have extensive knowledge of the Chaos Emeralds, Sonic. I don't know what I'm trying to tell you. But you sound like you already do."

"When that happened… it brought me back to all the worst memories. And at the time those memories were actually occurring, there were moments were I thought I'd want to end Eggman for good. But, I mean, seriously, haven't we all? But that was just because of what was going on, you know? When things are normal, I really don't feel that way."

"So negative Chaos energy," Espio said quietly, "brings out the worst in people, whatever and whenever that was. Even though you truly don't feel that way right now, Sonic… I have to imagine you can think of a few instances where you might have."

Something clicked in Sonic's mind. "Like Chaos," he said aloud.

"Pardon?"

"Eggman used Chaos – and negative energy from the Emeralds – for his own scheme before. And Chaos was so angry, even though that isn't truly who he was. It was the same anger that he felt when his chao friends were wiped out in that flood thousands of years ago, but it was renewed and reinforced because of the energy… And the only reason he stopped being angry was because my positive Chaos energy as Super Sonic neutralized him." Sonic paused meaningfully. "So if he only turned out okay because he was neutralized… then why am I okay?"

"It was only a small amount of the liquefied energy they had you drink, right? Suppose it's just worn off? Eggman said he only wanted to test it, after all."

"But it was in his system," Lucas chimed in. "Wouldn't it just keep circulating around in there? I don't think it'd wear off so fast, would it?"

Sonic gestured to himself, all blue and normal. "I don't know what to tell you, pal."

"Oh, I can see just fine that you're not being affected by it anymore," Lucas clarified with a peculiar smile, and glanced subtly over at Amber, who he noticed was paying attention as well. "But I'm not convinced that the energy left you alone of its own accord."

Sonic and Espio exchanged a glance, and shrugged.

"At any rate," the hedgehog said, "So then, evil is subjective. Using negative Chaos energy isn't going to get him any control over anyone; it'll just make everyone angry and crazy. I don't think even he's oblivious enough to do that, so we may be safe for now."

Lucas snorted. "Safe. Us."

"Well… comparatively."

xxx

"And that's everything you heard?"

Doctor Eggman crossed his arms and tapped his foot with impatient eagerness. His tone was like that of an excited child who had just eavesdropped on a conversation about himself. But his face held darkness.

"That is all," replied the android. "Why do you look so content about that? Your plan did not work."

"Part of me didn't expect it to," the scientist admitted. "Sonic is very strong. But it doesn't matter. Many, many others would succumb to that kind of energy, if he had that hard of a time. But extracting that amount of pure negative Chaos from an Emerald will take weeks. So in the meantime, I think I would like to shift priorities slightly!"

"To what, Master?"

Eggman smiled darkly. "To our guardian. He was very close to taking possession of a fifth Chaos Emerald the other day. Tails won their little squabble by fleeing with the gem. But not for long… not for long at all."

"Will you have him pursue Chaos Emeralds again?"

"Of course! And while he is doing that, I will pursue the Master Emerald." The doctor tossed his red Chaos Emerald up and down in one hand. "This lovely gem here helped me discover its location! Isn't that wonderful?"

The android approached him. "Where are the other Emeralds, Master? You said you would only be extracting negative energy from an Emerald?"

"With the guardian," he replied. "And yes. Only one for now. I do not want to waste such a resource before I'm convinced it will make my people… stable. Until then, the guardian will be using the other three to strengthen himself."

"I see. So taking possession of the Master Emerald would do what for you?"

"Everything," Eggman said simply. "It is the authority over the Chaos Emeralds. It has very much more power. With it… I can skip all of this petty planning and analyzing, because I will have so much power that no one can stop me! But… no doubt fox boy has found some way to keep that thing well-protected. I've no doubt whatsoever that I could get it either way, but I'd like to be quick about it, so I will come up with a plan of action first. In the meantime, Tails and his comrades can rest a bit." He met eyes with his creation. "That way, when the time comes, they will never know what hit them."

xxx

First-person perspective

xxx

It was later that night, but I wasn't sleeping yet. I was never sleeping yet. Sleeping wasn't really an escape for me here. It was just nothing. I felt no different when I woke up in the morning than I had the night before.

So I spent a lot of time awake, observing quietly like always, and sometimes getting lost in my own daydreams. Daydreams of a world I'd known once, one that seemed like a wishful fantasy now, one that was a lot bigger than ten square feet. Family, friends. Opportunities. Vibrant greens and blues.

The normal, routine life so many people took for granted every day… seemed like such an unfathomable paradise now.

I decided I wasn't going to think about that too much. Only recently had I begun to pull myself together in this place. I couldn't let a few moments of sadness and vulnerability shatter that.

Sonic wasn't sleeping yet either, not tonight. Again I wished I could get myself to talk to him.

The violet hue of the dim nighttime lights caught his face, and for a second we were making eye contact. The amount of times that had happened, I could still count on one hand.

There's something about eye contact. It enables you to see things you would never be able to see otherwise. And he looked… I don't know, he just looked so alive. It was evident in even the most normal of his expressions that this was the life he lived; a life of danger and chaos. While Meka Tower was chaos interrupting my routine, for him, for the most part lately, it was routine interrupting his chaos. And that life – that chaos – was just fine for him. It was what he knew. I had known that much all along; known it, but never felt it. His eyes were just naturally alight with invisible fire.

Only because of that eye contact did either of us realize the significance. I saw him snap out of his musings or daydreams or whatever it was that had been going on in his head as those emerald ovals focused in on me. It was counterintuitive to let the moment linger; months of avoidance made me want to look away. But I didn't this time. There was something I was trying to figure out about him, I realized, and every time I looked at him I got a little closer. Some kind of truth, some kind of revelation just out of reach… like a word at the tip of your tongue that you knew was there but could never quite close in on. I didn't know what I was expecting to suddenly comprehend, just that there was something.

I was actually never a people reader before this place. But I had learned to read Sonic pretty well pretty fast, and that was why it bothered me that I couldn't figure out that one little thing. He had captured my interest from the start, no matter how much I had wanted to ignore it at the time. Maybe there hadn't been any real reason for that intrigue at first, maybe it was just the shallow notion that he was famous. No matter the initial cause, though, I was pulled in by so many different reasons now.

One of them, I supposed, was that I had come to kind of admire him. He had been trapped here for as long as I had, fought relentlessly for the people around him, and had an agonizing experience with a tender fear. By itself, an experience really said nothing about a person. (Actually, I was pretty sure he'd said so himself – was that why it had occurred to me just now?)

Still, the significance was in his response to those experiences.

Sonic's response had proven to me that he was human like the rest of us. The oppression and fear… it had gotten to him at one point, and he had reacted. It probably would have been bad if he hadn't. At the time, those reactions had frightened me… but now I realized anyone would have and should have reacted. He wasn't immune to pain and fear at all. No amount of fame or even personal experience had changed that.

But he, and Lucas too, had also proven that anyone in any situation was capable of retaliation, proven that nothing was over until you let it be, proven that courage wasn't just a foreign trait found only in movies and books. Someone like him who needed space and freedom could have gone crazy in a place like this. Could have shut down, like I had for a while. Could have gotten a little insane from the restriction, the fear of the unknown, the fear of the known. But there was no fear in his eyes now, not because insanity had blinded him from fear, but because insanity had not so much as touched him.

He smiled at me wordlessly. It was contagious and I found myself smiling back. Then he nodded once as if to say, "there you go!"

I nodded back. Just once. Then we broke eye contact at the same time, and I turned away. Most other people were sleeping. Talking would just disturb the nighttime silence. There would always be tomorrow. Just like I always told myself.

Of course, you should never tell yourself something like that. It's usually around that point that your tomorrows and opportunities run out.

xxx

"_It's your fault Sonic and I aren't together! You're gonna regret this for the rest of your life!" –Amy, Sonic Heroes_

xxx

_In the next chapter: Tails and Espio discover the secret to freeing Meka Tower, but not their blue friend. And even doing that much will be a lot easier said than done; they have no idea of the odds waiting for them. Meanwhile, Sonic is in for a shocking day, if Lucas's tone is anything to go by… _

"_Sonic!" At the sound of Lucas's alert voice, Sonic rolled over frantically and sat up, nap be damned. What was before him froze him to the spot. His vision narrowed in.  
><em>

_Everything will change._


	28. Chapter 27: Blues and Greens

omgitsPhantomGurl12344: Pretty sure you have an account but since you reviewed anonymously I'm just gonna respond here, since there's no review reply button for anon reviews and it's easier.. Anyway, thanks, I appreciate it! You know, I have a liking for light SonicxAmy myself, even it hasn't come up very much in this story until this point. :) They haven't really had a good conversation yet this story, so it was about time. ;) Heh, I adore chao to bits, so feel free to send an army of them at me anyway. XD Here's your update! Hope you enjoy!

DanceDream: Oh gosh, this is going to be a long response. Hope you don't mind. XD Twice? Wow, glad you liked it so much! Thanks! And actually, the SonicxAmy was entirely intentional. Usually I'm not one to place a lot of weight on romantic relationships in stories, but at the same time, I do like light SonicxAmy. It's kind of a mental conflict of mine, really. I can't see Sonic _being with _anyone right now, not seriously anyway, and yet I love a reason to have some soft moments between these two. I guess, for me, it's less about romance and shipping, and more about their actual interactions, y' know? :) Heh, that is actually the best way to put it, to be honest with you; using Dark Sonic as a base. Months ago, I had three different people ask me about doing something Dark Sonic-related in the span of a few weeks for _whatever _reason (which is odd because I have never been a huge fan of Sonic going dark). It got me thinking about it, but I wanted to make it different, so I did not exactly _Dark _Sonic as much as negative-Sonic. XD But the idea did initially come from wondering how I could incorporate a Dark(ish) Sonic scene in a story. That chapter contained something that needed to happen for the plot anyway, so it just kinda fell into place there and was a good opportunity. :)

I'm glad you liked how Sonic was in this chapter though. He is not perfect and I try to make a point of letting that be known, while still retaining those awesome Sonicy qualities we love.~ ^v^ I feel like he's an identifiable character too; someone who's relatable enough to identify with, yet idealistic enough to be inspired by. :) Hee, Sonic nodding off. You're right, he can be so adorable sometimes. Seems like the most harmless lil' thing in that state, but of course his enemies know better. XD Ah, the line about pushing his musings to the back of his like always was mostly there because he always tends to scoot away from negativity despite the fact that maybe he should _confront _his worries and doubts now and then. Like you said, he's never been great at expressing negative emotions.

Heh, yep, Amber and Sonic finally had some slight interaction. I agree that she definitely wants to talk to him, deep down, but she is so shy, and her habits and fears are deeply engrained at this point. We'll see what comes of that.~ Oh, and to answer your question, Sonic being out of sorts on his way back from the scanner was just because of the effects of the sudden energy being introduced into his system. Sorry if that wasn't very clear. ^^; You're not missing anything. :) Aw, one of the best? Well thank you, very much; it's an honor to hear such a thing! Means a lot to me! ^v^ Also, love the song quote; it sounds like how Amy was for Sonic! And too, I quite like Skillet! My favorite by them has to be the song, Rebirthing. It's something I can definitely relate to. :) Anyway, thankies, and hope you like this one!

x

Hey folks. You know, I have to tell you: this chapter actually contains one of my early ideas for this story. One of the first scenes I thought of and started building various parts of the story around. If you write, maybe you know just what I mean. ;) Now, mind you, for some of you this might just be another chapter, since things like that probably tend to be more significant to the author than anyone else. But there's also some of you who I think and hope will really like this one.

Enjoy!

CHAPTER 27: BLUES AND GREENS

"Espio!" Tails exclaimed. "Okay, so, my radar is fully utilizing these three Chaos Emeralds, and I've got a near-perfect simulation of the tower's interior on my screen right now. And you're not going to believe this: I think I've discovered how to free everyone! It won't be easy, but—"

"Not everyone."

"What do you mean, not everyone?"

Espio closed his eyes, realizing this was something he should have told the fox a long time ago. It had completely skipped his mind. "Sonic's cell is different from the rest. It has a lock and won't open mechanically. Eggman did it as an extra precaution to keep him from escaping."

The silence was agonizing.

"Well…" Tails began after a few beats, sounding significantly less excited, "we'll just have to figure something out. We'll… we'll find a way."

"Yes. What did you find?"

The fox cleared his throat and began to explain, tone bound in disappointment and significantly less energetic than before. "Um… in the room that had the top scanner, there's a door on the ceiling that blends in really well. I went in there – virtually, of course – and there's this structure in the middle. It's like a pillar with a whole slew of controls on it. Looks like a mess but I guess Eggman and his droids understand it. Somewhere on there is the switch to unlock the gates."

"But… all along, even the _androids_ have referred to the floor I'm on now as the top floor. Are you telling me there is more above us?"

"Well, yes." Tails said. "This area on the ceiling doesn't look like it was even visible before Sonic tore the room apart… and even then it's inconspicuous."

"I should have known." Espio recalled when he had seen it before. "I was in that room."

"No – it's not your fault," Tails insisted. "Even if you knew, it's high up. I don't know how you'd even get up there."

"How did Sonic tear apart this room, then?"

"He can do his spinning thing. There's skid marks on the walls, so I'm guessing he got enough momentum to ride them since the room is a circle."

Espio blinked. "That's a really stupid design choice."

"It is, isn't it?"

"Tails – what else is up there? Anything?"

"I think so, but I'm having a hard time getting a clear image in this area. Probably Eggman's defenses. We're lucky I was able to see the control pillar. All I know is you'll need to figure out a way up there."

"I imagine Eggman or his robots go up there. I'll have to see how they do it. Maybe there is a special way to open the door, or some kind of lift they use…"

"How is your battery level?" Tails interrupted.

"What?"

"The communicator."

Espio looked closely at the wrist device, near one corner of its screen. The rectangle there was only filled up to a fourth. "Uh-oh," he said, and figured that was answer enough.

"That's why I asked," the fox muttered reluctantly. "Mine is getting lower too. Of course, I can charge mine anytime, but I figured if mine is lower, yours probably is too. Is there anything else you need to know… or to tell me?"

It crossed the chameleon's mind to mention that they had hardly made any progress and that if he couldn't get to the controls, they weren't going to make any more. His patience was being tried. How long must they struggle before seeing the light at the end of the tunnel? But he didn't want to push that kind of negativity onto Tails. That fox had worried enough for one adventure.

They said their goodbyes, and Espio tried very hard to keep the same hope he knew Sonic and Lucas were trying to keep.

xxx

Sonic awoke to the abrasive moaning sound of metal against metal.

For several long moments he just laid there on his side, eyes open, staring at the back wall. He considered getting up to see what the source of the sound was – a noise he would later realize he had only heard once or twice before – but in his daze, didn't see the significance, and didn't feel like ruining his state of comfort quite yet. It couldn't have been but ten minutes ago that he'd gotten cozy to take a nap, and he wasn't going to be bothered into getting up over a slight curiosity. If something was wrong, Lucas would certainly alert him.

Moments after he closed his eyes again, it happened again, almost as if—

"_Sonic!_"

At the sound of Lucas's shocked voice, Sonic rolled over frantically and sat up, nap be damned.

What was before him froze him to the spot.

The door to his cell was wide open… and floating in the center of its frame was Kai.

He was holding a key.

Stark disbelief hit Sonic like a brick, only the consequential sensation of that metaphorical brick was pleasure instead of pain. His vision seemed to close in on that chao as if it couldn't even compensate for anything else but sheer disbelief.

So that was what Kai had been off doing all this time…

"Kai, you… I…" he stammered clumsily, then gave up on speech. It wasn't working.

The chao had been absent a lot lately. Had been rather quiet. Had appeared to be on Eggman's side again. Had _followed the android with the key_ after it had unlocked Sonic's cell to take him to the scanner. And suddenly it all fell into context. All made sense.

But no matter how he tried, he still couldn't comprehend the enormity of what had just happened.

Smiling lucidly, Kai grabbed Sonic's limp hand with both of his own and pulled him up. Sonic, for his part, didn't resist, but found his legs feeling numb beneath him. With the hand Kai wasn't holding, he braced himself on the wall, trying to convince his knees not to buckle beneath him. Was this truly real…?

_You're not alone in this place, Sonic. Just remember that there's… that there's still that huge world out there, and it hasn't stopped turning just because you're in here… and one day, you won't be in here anymore._

Lucas had been right. One day he wouldn't be in here anymore. And that day was today. Suddenly he felt as though the world outside of Meka Tower was such a plausible thing. Like nothing had ever really changed. He would be outside again and his life would go on as if the horrors of being oppressed had never happened at all. It was all a dream…

Slowly, carefully, he stepped over the spot where the gate had been, wide eyes coated with a layer of shocked bliss. He had wanted this day for so long, but had been forced into a waiting game and never knew when or if it would end… He cleared his throat, trying to find his voice behind the tight bulge that was suddenly there.

He stood there and looked up and down the hall, taking it in as if he'd never seen it from that perspective before even though he had. Then, in the cell next to – or rather – behind him, Lucas cried out, "Sonic's free!"

Suddenly there were faces at the bars, seeing this apparent miracle for themselves. Sonic saw all of them, but at the same time saw none of them, so overcome was he with the notion that this day that he had imagined and looked forward to so many times was actually happening right now. A warm rush of chills ran down his arms – uncompromised joy manifesting itself on the outside – as a loud but sincere round of applause broke out, the hallway's design making the claps echo like thunder throughout the spirals. He tried to pull himself together enough to say something.

He had never expected to be freed before them. With the lock on his cell door… he expected Espio and Tails to free the rest of the prison, the cells that were controlled remotely, leaving him completely alone in his own for countless more days, weeks…

"Guys…" he tried, the word coming out layered with quiet happiness, "I don't even… You're all awesome. Thanks." He drew a breath that raised his shoulders. "I'm not going to give up. You all know this. And so many of you…" he met all the sets of eyes he could see in turn. "So many of you are like that, too. We've fought really well in here, you know, even when it doesn't always seem like it. You don't want to let him win any more than I do – I know you don't! – so never, ever pretend otherwise."

"What do you want us to do, Sonic?" someone asked. Sonic recognized the voice; it was the person who had mocked him months ago, when he had first arrived.

"Whatever you feel up to doing," the hedgehog replied. Kai sat down on his head, holding his ears for balance. He reached up and rubbed the reason for his freedom with vigorous happiness. "We're going to free you as soon as we can, so in the meantime, just do what we've been doing all along. Sounds boring, but…" He shrugged. "Stay with each other. Keep the spirit alive in this place."

"After we're free… will you have stopped Eggman by then?"

"Doubt it," Sonic admitted. "So maybe you'll have a chance to do something not-so-boring by helping me out with that later…" he grinned, "…if you want to, that is."

"I want to!" blurted about a dozen people. Sonic laughed.

"That's what I thought." He gave them all a thumbs-up, knowing they'd hold the fort without him. Lastly, he turned to Lucas's cell, and did a quick, casual salute. "You haven't seen the last of me," he promised with a shining gaze.

For a moment, Lucas looked like he was going to make a smart remark, but then his face formed into a small smile that contained infinite emotions and he said, "I certainly hope not… Faker."

xxx

First-person perspective

xxx

I once thought I didn't want Sonic to know I existed. I once thought I wanted nothing to do with the fight against Eggman. Only now, as Sonic was leaving my sight, did I realize how much things had changed.

This wasn't how it was supposed to be. The opportunity wasn't supposed to be gone so unexpectedly.

"S-Sonic…?" I heard myself say; an attempt to call to him smothered by the tightness in my voice. An apprehensive, hesitant part of me hoped he didn't hear me, so I could say I tried and forget about it.

Right. Forget about Sonic. I was never going to forget him. Nor would I ever forget that I had been too much of a coward to talk to him.

To my relief and to my horror, he kept walking. He hadn't heard me. No, don't leave now. Please, not now… Come back to your place across the hall from me, where the opportunity to talk to you will always be present… where I can always feel comfortable instead of having to take a risk like I'm doing now…

_What's wrong with me?_

My throat felt tense as I watched him go. I had to hold back tears. After everything… this was how it was going to end? No… it couldn't be that simple. The opportunity would come again…

"_SONIC!_"

…Right now.

Sonic heard his name, came to a halt, and turned back around. I saw his eyes wander for the source momentarily, before finally settling on me.

It was embarrassing. I felt so stupid, getting his attention now of all times, when I had months' worth of constant opportunities. He wanted to escape and get on with his life now that he was free, not stand around talking to someone who should have talked to him a long time ago… but I just had to.

I couldn't even follow his movement as he ran back towards me. He was so fast.

"Hey, you, how's it going?" he asked, hopping up and sitting with his legs between the bars of my cell gate, like he had done while conversing with Lucas on several occasions. He looked at me as if I had been a part of the team all along.

"Um, it's going okay," I said. What else to say? I knew there was more – so much more – but I couldn't bring it to the surface.

"So. Got a name?"

"I'm A-Amber," I stammered. Nothing I could say seemed sufficient. He was so much stronger, tougher… better than I was.

"Amber," he repeated as if testing the name on his tongue, sounding a heck of a lot more gentle and harmless than the way I had just thought of him. And really, it wasn't him who was intimidating. I was intimidating myself. "Kinda like your eyes!"

"Yeah!" I blurted, smiling and surprised he noticed. I hadn't heard that voice come from me since before Meka Tower. For the first time in a long time, I kind of recognized myself. "My parents named me kind of late, I guess… when my real eye color came through, it gave them the idea." Wow, I was rambling. "Er, sorry, I…"

"Hey, no worries." Sonic smiled at me. "You probably got your eye color sooner than I did, anyway! We biped species don't tend to get our eye color until sometime during childhood!"

"Really? That's… kinda crazy." You wouldn't know that now, looking at those bright green eyes.

I wondered if he was a little uncomfortable too. I was a mystery to him. He probably didn't know what to say any more than I did to him, even though there were three months' worth of conversations to be had. He was just better at supporting an empty conversation than I was.

…Actually, I did know what I wanted to say to him, but I didn't even know where to begin.

Sonic watched me expectantly. I knew he was waiting for me to talk, and indeed_ I_ was waiting for me to talk, but it was still so counterintuitive. I had gotten so used to keeping everything to myself – or, if you want to throw a melodramatic cliché out there, 'locking it all inside.' I just shut down.

"You had a hard time, didn't you?" he asked. I had. I had felt alone the entire three months, because I had isolated myself. It was some bizarre, psychological reaction to everything that had happened; I just hadn't been able to handle the idea of being held captive. That day, under those circumstances, it had just been too much. It had been the beginning of something terrible – a kind of aloneness I hadn't even fathomed – because I had made it that way.

Instead of doing what would have made me feel better – denying it – I made eye contact and said truthfully, "Yes." Better to do that than make myself look like even more of a coward. Suddenly, I felt very angry. Not at Sonic, for seeing what I hadn't wanted him to see, but at myself. It was nothing like regular guilt – it was far worse. I wanted to scream at myself.

Who was I to say I had had a hard time? I had probably had the smoothest road out of everyone, and it was because I was so silent and non-confrontational… just like I had wanted, right?

Hah.

Sonic smiled, and though it was tentative for my sake, it seemed like a complete contradiction to everything I was feeling. It was like the world was mocking me. Another surge of rage coursed through me, but this time, it was because of him. I took a heated stride toward the front of my cell and scrutinized his face.

He barely reacted to my suddenly flaring temper. "How do you do this!" I demanded.

"Do what?" Sonic's eyebrows raised in confusion, and the smile disappeared. "Er… sit up here like this? I mean, it's not that hard, really…" he trailed off, apparently dropping the try at humor, and shrugged.

In that instant, I knew I was acting irrationally. Again. I closed my eyes and forced myself to calm down. When I opened them again, Sonic's troubled expression hadn't changed. I felt bad. We were two different people; it wasn't fair for me to be angry at him for being someone I couldn't. "I'm sorry."

"No worries," he said, albeit still a bit cautiously. The relaxation returned to his demeanor. He hadn't been upset; all that had mattered to him was that I was all right now, which made me feel worse. "Now, you going to tell me what's going on here?"

"I'm sorry," I nearly whispered, again. "I would have done anything to escape this place. I didn't want to help you or Lucas or anyone else stop Eggman at first." It felt disgusting to say the words aloud, to admit them, to hear the truth of them coming out of my own mouth. I looked away from him; I didn't think I could bear to see his reaction. Even if he didn't say anything, the disappointment would be there in his eyes.

I had never felt so pathetically inferior in all my life.

After a few moments, I realized that while my thoughts had carried me away briefly, Sonic still hadn't said anything. I forced myself to look into those emerald green irises again, preparing myself for whatever lied there.

He was… _grinning_ again.

"But it sounds like things have changed, haven't they?" he asked. "Just by the way you worded that. You want to help now, don't you?"

My eyes were blurring now. "I would have given in to him," I blubbered on. "You know… if Eggman found a way to control us… I would have been among the people he could have taken over right from the start. I was so scared." My voice broke, emotions battling inside me. I felt like a dirty traitor.

I had been held here for months. I'd had no social interaction save for once or twice with Lucas. I had been changed by the isolation I had brought upon myself, and by the complete lack of freedom. I was a train wreck. But I had not come anywhere near experiencing what Sonic had. I had not lived a constant fight. I was not viewed as an enemy. I had not been threatened. I didn't have to fall asleep every night wondering if I would be tortured the next day. Why couldn't I smile and mean it? Why could he?

_Why can you?_

"I would have done anything to escape this," I said again. "I would have done whatever Eggman wanted. Eggman even said I was one of the few being cooperative, remember?" My confession was a bittersweet catharsis. I wanted to turn away from him, stop blathering on about my own sorrow and suffer in my humiliation quietly. But at the same time, I just wanted to go on and on and tell him everything I felt and more.

I didn't get the opportunity to continue down either path, because he interrupted my train of thought with his voice.

"I caved."

The statement was matter-of-fact, honest, and unashamed.

"Wh-what?" I had heard him clearly, but I could not believe it. Those two words in themselves were unfathomable coming from Sonic. The way he said them was even more ridiculous. His tone and his expression didn't fit the emotions that I thought should be associated with words like that. His eyes held acceptance and clarity and…

I didn't get it.

Although he knew my hearing was fine, he didn't say "You heard me" or otherwise avoid reiterating the statement. Instead, he comfortably repeated it again with a quick shrug. "I caved."

What…? What was that supposed to mean? Was he playing some kind of game to get me to stop beating myself up or something? He would.

"What do you mean?" I asked him cautiously.

_Why can you?_

He laced his hands loosely through the bars, looking thoughtful. "Well, you know how Eggman wanted to see if fear influenced the Chaos Emeralds." I nodded. "And no, I never tried to use the Emerald that day, if your mind's going in that direction. I'm… talking about something a little different."

Soft footsteps clanked against the ground somewhere behind me. I glanced over my shoulder to see Lucas approaching the front of his cell. His gaze was surprised yet focused, and he was listening intently. I understood. This was what Sonic had meant when he told Lucas he didn't know everything.

That conversation of theirs had been left unfinished… until now.

Sonic wasn't playing games to make me feel better. This was real.

"Thing is," he continued with a tone that was hard to read, "I was this close. If that kept going on… yeah. And afterwards, I just…" he paused a little awkwardly, like he was having a hard time talking about it more out of self-consciousness than anything. He didn't like to acknowledge weakness. I wondered if I should interrupt him before he continued and say it was okay if he didn't want to talk about it, but by the time I had the thought, he sorted himself out and begun talking again: "I've never really… felt that way before. I didn't feel like myself. And at times I wished that… I wished that I'd just tried to use the Emerald like Eggman wanted, so it wouldn't have gotten so… so…"

"Unbearable," I mouthed quietly, filling in the blank for him. The look in his eyes told that was exactly what he would have said. But he hadn't wanted to say it. Hadn't wanted to draw that kind of dramatic pity to himself. "It's okay." Did I just say 'it's okay' to Sonic the Hedgehog?

"Yeah…" He maintained eye contact with me. I couldn't have looked away if I wanted to. "And then when I thought things like that, it made me all mad at Eggman. Because it was his fault. I blamed him for how I felt about everything… and then after that I would get mad at myself for doing that, which obviously doesn't help…"

"But it was his fault," I said, then felt bad for cutting him off. "Sorry, but… Sonic, it was probably good that you were mad at him. We were too."

"Yeah, but what does anger fix? Doesn't help anything. I wasn't doing myself any favors. Wasn't gonna make me feel any better or get over it."

"How did you get over it, Sonic?"

_Why can you?_

He hesitated for a minute. In the background of the situation, across the hall, Lucas was looking on intently like he wanted to say something.

"I dunno," Sonic said. The easiest answer to anything. "Actually, I guess maybe I do. Just… this place. All the people here. It's so great to see everyone doing all right, you know? I mean, they cheered for Kai and me that day we destroyed the androids, and Kai defended me. They clapped for us. You clapped for us too! It was the most noise I'd heard from everyone since… that whole thing. Most noise I'd heard from you, too. Totally unexpected, let me tell ya! I'd gotten the impression everyone was afraid to be loud at that point, but they weren't. We're all still ourselves, and Eggman wasn't able to do what he originally wanted to do. And if I'd used the Chaos Emerald and it worked… we might all have eventually gone done a really different road than that. But now there's still hope to stop all this. So I guess… I guess that's what made it all okay, in the end. That, and…" he looked over his shoulder at Lucas and smiled. "Well, people to talk to!"

Hope. All along, it had been hope that had kept him above the surface. The knowledge that the fight _wasn't_ over yet, and that others were still with him… because he _hadn't _isolated himself. Even though he had talked about running off on his own all the time before, back when he was free, and had always played life by his own terms… now he was in a circumstance where he couldn't do that. So he had no longer tried to be the loner that I was now. He needed the people around him and they needed him.

The fight had _never_ been over, I realized; not even when the rest of us thought he had broken. He had only appeared to be broken to fool Eggman. But inside, even though things were dreadful… he hadn't given up hope. Not quite.

"Faker," I muttered with a smile, then heard myself and brought one hand to my mouth.

Sonic chuckled under his breath and blushed. He knew what I meant.

His answer seemed so obvious now that he'd said it. It was so simple to him. So much simpler than the situation had been.

I made eye contact again. "Um… So, then… what about the Chaos Emerald?"

He shrugged and smiled ironically. "I don't even know the truth," he said. "Never found out, remember? But that's how we want it! We don't need to know what it can do… just so long as Eggman doesn't know either."

That tone of possibility in his voice made me a little nervous. "You're sure he doesn't somehow?"

"Positive," the hedgehog said without missing a beat. "Not through me! I promise you that much. You'd all have known by now. That Chaos Emerald was linked to Eggman's control room and the scanners, like he said. If I'd used it, you'd know. But Amber… you believe me, don't ya?"

"Of course I do," I murmured, feeling like dirt for even making him think I didn't.

"I came close, though," he admitted quietly. "Really close."

I looked past him into his cell, where it had happened, and saw in my mind what I knew he had just seen in his.

He had to be proud that he hadn't broken for Eggman, but he didn't have the same kind of cocky smugness about that as he did about everything else. Everything else, he could handle willingly, strong and confident, with a complete lack of reluctance, because he just had such a zest for life even when it was challenging. But this… this was a little different. He'd had to struggle immensely to be able to do that, and it wasn't something he would brag about being able to do again.

My next question didn't sound rude until it came out of my mouth: "Doesn't that _bother _you?"

Sonic actually laughed at the sudden apologetic expression I made. "What, that I was so close to giving up? You look like you think it should." He adjusted his position on the concrete ledge, getting more comfortable. It didn't seem like he was in any hurry at all. He had his freedom, and for whatever reason he was perfectly content using some of it to talk to me. "I mean, it'd definitely bother me if I ever gave in to him. It'd bother me a _lot_. I'd be betraying people who needed my help, not to mention myself. But that never actually happened, did it?"

I didn't know what to say.

"You have to be able to forgive yourself, Amber! You said you would have done anything, even if it meant following Eggman. But it never got to that point, just like I never quite got to the point where I gave up, either… even if I did come close."

"That's the thing," I said. "The only reason it never got to that point for me was because it never got to that point for you. If you had given up… I think I would have too, Sonic."

He shrugged. "There's no way to know for sure what you would have done in the end. Who knows? Maybe you'd have been capable of more than you thought. I mean, if somebody would have asked me beforehand if I thought I was capable of _that_…" He didn't finish the sentence. He didn't need to, and we both knew it. "But at the end of the day, the ifs don't matter. They don't exist!"

I kept arguing not because I wanted to win, but because I wanted to be proven wrong. "You say it doesn't matter," I said slowly, "but shouldn't you consider everything that can happen? Especially when life in this place is so uncertain? You never know what could happen. Things always have the potential to be worse. Like… like… I know how unlikely it is now, but for an example, if what happened to you were… if that were to…" I stammered and stopped, feeling awkward delving this far into his experience. I didn't want to bring back any bad memories for him – saying the wrong thing was supposed to be Lucas's job, not mine – but at the same time, I had an unexplainable feeling that Sonic appreciated my lack of reservation.

"Like… if that were to ever have happened again," Sonic helped me out, finishing the sentence I hadn't really wanted to finish. I could tell he hadn't exactly wanted to finish it either, but he didn't let the anxiety of the thought stop him from doing so anyway. It wasn't like saying something aloud made it a curse.

"Like if that were to have happened again," I repeated, and as I made myself say it, I saw the shadow of an approving smile cross his face. He was right; if people had to bring up morbid subjects like this, it was better to not scoot around it like a wuss. And that was fair enough. So I continued on. "Or if something were to happen to me, or Lucas… or if someone were to starve to death because the androids don't give anyone food as much anymore… or if we were to all be moved to different areas away from each other…? Nobody knows what could happen from here—"

"That's right. But so what? It's not like we can practice, now, is it? I totally get what you're saying, Amber, but the thing is… we both did what we could, and it was enough. Beating yourself up over the what-ifs isn't going to change anything about what you could do at the time, or about what you can do in the future… or _now_, for that matter. That kind of attitude just wears ya down and makes things worse!"

"So… so you're okay with everything? You're okay thinking you might have given up?"

Sonic chuckled. It wasn't mocking or sarcastic or even cocky; it was just a pleasured little chuckle. "I'm human too, you know. Well. Not exactly human, but same difference. I'm okay with what happened, because it turned out okay in the end. Didn't it?" It seemed like a rhetorical question but he didn't actually keep talking until I nodded. "I mean, that plan of Eggman's fell through. No one here had to get affected by the Chaos Emeralds, or be forced to do anything to help this silly world conquest thing. As I'm talking right now, Espio and Tails are trying to free everyone, and I'm gonna help do the same. We get closer to stopping Eggman every day, even if it's not always a _lot_. What we've all been capable of dealing with throughout this whole fiasco… it's been enough so far. So yeah, I'm okay." He looked off at nothing. "As long as it never, ever happens again."

"The situation, or almost giving up?"

That was the first thing I said that gave him pause. He had a peculiar look on his face for a moment, like he hadn't considered it that way. Then he thought about it and said, "Both."

For a moment – no, it was longer than that evasive moment this time – I was on the same plane of thought that he was. I felt him. I understood everything. All that had happened under the roof of this tower suddenly seemed clear as day. The destruction of countless androids, what Eggman had done to Sonic, the comradeship between the people of the top floor, the courage and hope and perseverance… The sheer _enormity_ of it all, and how much had truly been accomplished by people who couldn't move more than ten feet, even if those accomplishments were more of the spirit more than physical actions… it was amazing.

I backed away from the bigger picture I had just seen in my mind… and held the gaze of the single individual in front of me who had started it all.

It made me realize something. The 'paradise' of normalcy that I thought I'd missed so much before… it didn't matter to me anymore. Because there had been a tiny bit of paradise right here in Meka Tower. Family and friends? Opportunities? Blues and greens? It was all right here. Every time I had glanced over into Sonic's cell. Every time I looked into his eyes, or Lucas's. They had been here for me all along, even though they didn't know it, and for the longest time I hadn't known it either. They had given me that tiny piece of paradise I could grasp onto, just by being who they were. They didn't want me to isolate myself anymore. Just like Sonic hadn't isolated himself anymore.

At that moment, I was pretty sure I knew exactly what Sonic was thinking behind those eyes: he would cross whatever bridge he confronted when he confronted it, and he would do whatever it took to reach the other side.

...And he'd be grinning and making dumb remarks the whole way across.

xxx

"_You gotta be true to yourself!" –Sonic, Sonic Rush_

xxx

Who's gonna rock the _place, place, place_. Who's gonna rock the _place, place, place_. _Sonic's_ gonna rock the _place, place, place_. Who's gonna rock the _place_. No _one_ can _touch this_!

…Okay, so maybe this wasn't 'just another chapter' either way, considering the major turning point that occurred here. XD I was looking forward to getting to this one. And hopefully that conversation was a cool little scene. It's something I've kinda been building up to throughout the entire story so far, what with Amber's continuous contemplative observing and Sonic's actions and choices. It's probably not even a big deal to most people, but for some reason I just… really wanted that conversation to be had. :3 Hopefully this chapter made ya smile. :D

Thanks for reading, as always, guys! Have a good one!~

_In the next chapter: This is no time to start getting end-of-story vibes! Eggman's still strong and has his sights on the Master Emerald, Imposter is still out there, and Meka Tower is still, by and large, trapped. Espio attempts to free the tower and discovers there's more to the hub room than meets the eye – or Tails's radar. Meanwhile, Sonic finds out firsthand how the upper floors' strength has affected the lower floors' survival. Is it too late?_


	29. Chapter 28: Two Edged Blade

DanceDream: Thanks for all the feedback! Really great to hear! Heh, I can't say your suspicion is unwarranted – but more on that this chapter! ;D Hah, double-As. They'd certainly help, wouldn't they? If only. Aw, so glad you liked that part, and yeah, you can bet Sonic was surprised. Not a moment too soon, that's for sure! I don't blame you for being nervous about reading on, since apparently almost anything bad that could happen is fair game for this story. Heh. XP But nope, he's actually legitimately free! …From the cell anyway. Heh, love what you said about Sonic taking Kai home. You never know! ^^

I like what you said about looking at Amber being like looking in a mirror. That actually makes perfect sense and I'm glad you see it that way. :) As I've told a few others recently – while Sonic kinda represents the ideal that most of us strive for, Amber I think symbolizes where a lot of us actually are: a position of wanting to be happy and strong, but doubting how to actually achieve your own ideals. I guess it's where those two positions meet. I mean, Sonic isn't perfect either of course. But he kinda shows that even someone trapped and vulnerable and imperfect like he is can still be steadfast, and make the most of even the sucky situations. And if he can, then maybe she can too. :)

Heh, well said, that is Sonic for ya; never gives up, is not normal, and is just the way we like it. ;) Oh, I appreciate all the quoting regardless. It's nice to know _what _people actually like about it, y' know? Especially that conversation since it was kinda a special little part of this story. ^v^ Hah, I like fitting quotes too, apparently at the end of chapters. ;) Thanks again, very much, for sharing your thoughts. Means a lot to me. :) (And yus, you totally need an account! XD Heh, no worries!)

x

So guys, I just randomly remembered something. You know earlier, in Chapter 26: Chaotic Spiral? Well, Espio had a(n oddly fitting) line in there; "Data retrieval isn't exactly my specialty" which he also said in Shadow the Hedgehog. Not very often I can sneak a reference by you lot, but nobody caught that one. ;)

Anyway, hope you guys enjoy the next chapter!~

CHAPTER 28: TWO-EDGED BLADE

As soon as Espio had heard from Tails that there was a way to set Meka Tower free from the inside, he had been eager to follow his young comrade's instructions and do what should have been done a long time ago. Now that he was where he needed to be, though, he realized once again that it would be easier said than done.

Not because of an ominous, dark threat. Not even because of an enemy. But because of height.

"Well," he said dryly, "at least it's not pipes. It's always pipes."

"What?" Tails asked.

"The way to the control room that you told me about on the radar. It seems whenever we detectives need to get somewhere, we end up going through the pipes above the ceiling. After so many times, it becomes tedious and boring."

"But Espio… isn't waltzing right through the door kind of boring, too?"

The chameleon sighed as he looked around himself. He was in the round room that had contained the first scanner, surrounded by the debris Sonic had made out of it. Above him, on the ceiling, was one thing that had been left untouched: a circular sliding door. It was indented slightly, so it merely looked like part of the room's architecture. Tails had explored the prison virtually on his radar, and in a stroke of luck, saw it at just the right angle to notice. Just above it was the area they needed; the control room they had supposed to exist since the very beginning. The way to free everyone _had _been the prison all along, but it had been in a place no one had thought worth another look.

Sonic apparently hadn't seen it, or even if he had, didn't have time in the midst of fighting the robots to give it much thought. With the havoc that destroying the scanner had caused, some inconspicuous metal circle on the ceiling was the last thing he would be concerned with.

"I suppose so," Espio answered after an instant, "but if you're after accuracy, I'll be jumping through it, not waltzing through it."

"Well, I guess I wasn't after accuracy. So how do we get it open?"

"You're asking me?"

"I… I guess so. I mean, you're a detective. You're good at finding stuff out, aren't you?"

"Most of the time, yes, but I have a feeling the only way to open this door is remotely. Eggman probably has access to the controls, and a few of his androids probably do too, but I haven't seen any."

"Androids or remotes?"

He almost answered the latter, but then remembered he hadn't seen many of the former either. "Sonic and the rest of the top floor have been taking them out like crazy. The lower floors never had many to begin with. Amongst all the ones that have been defeated, I have not seen any of them carrying such a device."

"So the best way to open it is to get the control off Eggman, but lately Eggman is gone! What if we can't get a hold of one?"

"A remote or an Eggman?"

Tails laughed. "Uh, good one. But seriously – any thoughts?"

There was the sound of approaching footsteps. For once – an opportunity introducing itself right to him.

"Actually," the detective murmured into the communicator under his breath, "this may be easier than you think."

He turned the volume all the way down, then dropped his hand and held still, focusing on making himself part of the environment around him. Just as his own body became invisible beneath him, the android he had heard stepped into the room. At first he thought it had heard him talking to Tails, but it kept on going, looking like nothing suspicious had happened. Activating its hover mechanism, it began to ascend quickly toward the ceiling. The door slid open as if it had sensed the android's approach – and Espio realized it probably had. His heart pounded as this chance displayed itself. There was only one way to take advantage of it. He could not reach the ceiling alone.

When the robot was as high as he dared to let it get, he crouched down low and then sprung off the ground, grasping its ankle with both hands. The android was close enough to the opening that it could not slow down in time to prevent Espio from getting through. Its momentum was easily enough for both of them.

Just as the door slid shut beneath them, it whirred around and slapped the chameleon away, not even bothering to land first. Espio slid along the ground and into a small cluster of inactive androids against the far wall. Startled, he made to get up more out of instinct than anything – but not fast enough.

"Who do you think you are?" it demanded fiercely, storming towards the rising chameleon and shoving its own dormant comrades out of the way. It picked him up by the shoulders and slammed him into the wall before he could blink. "Are you trying to infiltrate this place? How did you enter Meka Tower undetected?"

"You seem awfully flustered. Are you going to be in trouble with your master?"

The android looked at him severely. "_How did you enter?_"

"Walked right in through the front door," Espio replied coolly, before glancing over at the trap door he had just come up through with meaning. "And it seems your security standards haven't changed much since then."

He was struck across the face.

"Your current situation is certainly a reflection of that, isn't it?" the android asked.

"It is, actually. I'm in exactly the place I need to be." _I must keep this thing talking until I can come up with a plan…_

"Not for long. You will be escorted to a cell later today… after you've told me all about your little mission in here."

Espio looked unimpressed. "If that's what you're after, we'll be here a lot longer than 'later today.' Some credit, please. I am a ninja."

Later, he would look back and _swear _that metallic face smiled as it said, "How's _this _for cre—"

But Espio turned his head at the last moment, and the android's momentum drove its heavy hand into the wall. The loud clang rattled against his (unfortunately quite close) eardrums.

The motion let him see past the robot for a moment, and actually take in the area he was now in. He had never known it to exist until now, but it was enormous. The real 'top floor,' in its size and significance anyway; it was as large in diameter as the rest of the prison, but without the hallways and cells getting in the way. The floor was a foggy gray-blue, and the unfinished ceiling was high. Beams were exposed. To him it looked like a massive warehouse. The master control station appeared to be at its center, near the trap door they had come from. He hadn't been able to see it from that angle, and the robot had struck him long before he had a chance to look around. He realized it had carried him very far, for them to be all the way at the edge of the huge room now… Like it had been trying to keep him from that control pillar…

_So this has to be it._

As far as he could see, androids lined the room's perimeter in rows. There were thousands of them. Eggman _wasn't _running out after all, as he had thought… yet he wasn't activating these ones for use, either. As Espio had told Sonic, he didn't expect Eggman to replace the patrol androids. But _these _androids… not all of them were patrols. Some of them had hoses on the end; _multipurpose for both housecleaning and torture,_ Espio thought to himself morbidly. Some of the robots were larger. A few had attached weapons. Most had hover mechanisms, too. Surely Eggman had more uses for them, and they needn't sit inside this area…

_So… why?_

_ Does he just want us to think we're winning… until the right moment?_

Even if Espio wasn't pinned to the wall, he knew it would take way too much time to destroy them all. It was a job for Sonic – which, he realized, was another reason Eggman was so bent on keeping the hedgehog trapped. If he found this place, he would pose a much larger threat to the doctor.

But even for the blue blur… it was a lot of androids.

The android worked its hand out of the indent it had created in the wall. Espio heard pieces of it crumble and fall to the floor. If that punch had landed…

"Are you trying to kill me?" Espio asked, blinking. "That's curious, all things considering. I thought you'd control your temper long enough to learn why I'm here."

"Indeed, a good suggestion. Ending things quickly would be no fun, would it?"

Espio rolled his eyes. _Oh dear. If I had a nickel for every time…_

"You could look at it that way," he said with a purposely unreadable expression. "It's not very often even _my_ line of work gets me into situations like this. It's interesting."

"And what is your line of work? Something to do with being a ninja, if I'm correct?"

Espio chuckled calmly. "Take that route if you will, but knowing what I do for a living isn't going to tell you why I'm here."

"Then why bring it up?"

_To throw you off. To buy time. To make you uncertain of the validity of anything I say._

"Oh, just idle musing, I suppose."

"In case you haven't noticed, this is not the time for idle musing." The android tightened its grip. "I refuse to have you insult my credibility as an H-series robot any longer. I will ask you once more. Why. Are. You. Here."

_One-word sentences. Is this robot serious? Oh my. Don't laugh don't laugh. _"I must be somewhere, mustn't I?"

"Don't play games with me!" the robot snapped, digging its fingers into his arm. "I was created to serve the Eggman Empire! This is my purpose! Do you really think your persistence will outlast mine?"

"My answer to that is the same as Sonic's was," Espio said evenly. He subtly moved both hands behind his back, reaching inside the sheath attached to his glove with the opposite hand…

"Ahh, so you know Sonic the hedgehog. That arrogant mass of spikes." The robot's sharp fingertips pierced Espio's flesh as its grip tightened in anger. He suppressed a groan. "Let's talk about Sonic, shall we?"

"No thanks," Espio said, holding eye contact momentarily. Then he raised a hand and slammed his throwing knife precisely into the android's neck. Wires split and snapped. Its grip slackened as it stared into him with a dead expression, and he shoved it away from himself. "I've already had my say."

Bright droplets of blood raced each other down his smooth violet coat, staining a trail there as they went. He wiped them away hastily, irritated at the sensation, as he jogged back to the center of the room, where the controls were. About halfway there, he turned his communicator back up to its original volume. "Tails?"

"Espio! Are you okay? You stopped responding, and I thought something bad happened."

"Nothing I couldn't take care of. I'm where we need to be now. And if we're right… Meka Tower will be free in mere minutes."

xxx

Sonic made his way down the spirals of Meka Tower, not certain of what to do but figuring he'd know when he saw it. Now that he was able to move quickly again, he was beginning to notice how his body had changed. His legs were stiff, and his body slightly weaker and thinner. It wasn't debilitating by any means, but it was a jarring reminder of just how long he had been inside Meka Tower.

Just like before, there was a perceptible shift in atmosphere as he descended. He found himself avoiding eye contact with most of the prisoners. If anyone called his name he would of course stop to see what they wanted. But by and large, he was not in the mood for cynicism. Perhaps it was selfish, but it had been mere hours since he had been freed, and he wanted to be happy about it.

Besides, he had to get to the bottom of things – literally and figuratively. He wasn't entirely sure why he felt inclined to go down so far, as it wasn't like he would just be able to leave. There was still the matter of getting _outside _the prison. But for some reason, making his way downward just felt right. It would be pointless to destroy the other two scanners now that Eggman's true intentions had been revealed, but maybe there was a way to free the prison from down lower. After all, Espio had said he didn't spend a lot of time near the bottom.

_At the time, he wanted to find me for Tails's and Amy's sake, since they all knew something bad had happened…_

Idly Sonic wondered where they would be if Espio had spent more time figuring things out and less time reassuring those two. Sonic thought it was just awesome that the chameleon had grown to care about Tails and Amy like he had, but at the same time, this was why he had wanted to keep his own situation separate from theirs. Espio, Tails and Amy could have all made progress faster if they hadn't been so wrapped up in _his _problems…

Well, there was no changing things now. It wouldn't be fair to hold that against them anyway. After all, if the situation had been reversed, and he had discovered Eggman had done something horrendous to Tails or Amy…

He shuddered, a quick burst of dread and rage rippling through his soul like liquid fire, and for the first time got a glimpse of the kind of hell his friends had gone through while he'd gone through his own.

"Sonic!" a voice called from somewhere on his left. Snapping out of his thoughts, the blue blur came to a graceful halt right in front of the person who had called his name. It was a husky man with light brown hair and dark eyes set into his head almost as much as his large nose stuck out. He looked worn, tired, and Sonic noticed upon closer examination that most of his thickness was from skin that used to have meat under it, but didn't now due to weeks of near-starvation.

_It's so bad down here…_ _I don't believe this._

"What's up?" Sonic asked cheerily, trying to keep the deep disturbance he felt from showing on his face.

"You're free," the man said, spreading his arms and appearing incredulous. He looked like he might have been trying to smile, but the heavy, tired skin tugged downward on the expression like a weight. Sonic scratched his chin, waiting for him to say more. The man let his arms drop to his sides and approached closer, grasping the bars. "Are you going to help us?"

"Of course I am," Sonic told him. "But you've gotta understand, this place is huge. My friends and I are doing the best we can to discover how to open the cells. After that there's still the matter of opening the main entrance of the tower itself, but… one thing at a time, y' know?"

"So this will still be a while."

"I'm not happy about it either, believe me," Sonic said. "Just hang in there."

"Are you okay?"

"Who, me?" the hedgehog asked, surprised at the sudden shift in concern. "I'm fine, I s'ppose! How's everybody down here?"

"Crappy," the man answered bluntly. "Listen. I know what you've been through in this place – but I don't even think _you'd _believe how things have gotten down here. None of us are 'eligible,' whatever that means." Sonic knew what it meant. They couldn't adequately use Chaos energy, so they were useless to Eggman. "Yet the bastard won't let us go because he's afraid we'll blab about this place and reveal his plans. So we're stuck here. The rejects. I'm lucky to get fed every other day. Some folks are lucky to be sane. One person in this hallway broke a plate and was…" he paused and shook his head. "He's alive still, but only because his neighbor talked him back to the surface."

Frowning, Sonic stepped closer to the cell and asked, "Can you point me to him? Maybe I can—"

"This isn't any time for a damn therapy session, Sonic. I just wanted you to know what it's like down here. Give you a little motivation maybe since you seem to need it." Sonic actually felt affronted for one of the first times in a while. He vaguely remembered the person who had been a jerk to him on the top floor when he had first arrived. That was just _one _person. But he had a feeling those kinds of people made up the majority of these floors. His ears fell a little flat. "You're supposed to be the hero. I hate to sound pushy, but can you please try and get us out of here?"

"L-listen, I'm really, _really _trying here, and it's killing me that you guys are still stuck here, 'cause I know what it's like. I promise I'll do my best to figure something out, but these doors aren't gonna just open like magic!"

Of course, that was the exact moment when the man's gate swung open widely in conjunction with all the other cells they could see. An obnoxious screeching sound tore through the air and bounced off the walls as the gates scraped against the metal floor simultaneously. Sonic cringed, his quills standing up on end.

It was comically quiet for an instant. Then there was the sound of tons of emotions around them, manifesting themselves in the form of laughter, tears, clapping, shouting, talking… Only a few people, too weak or too deeply affected by the captivity and suffering and starvation, remained quiet and still. Uncaring.

All Sonic could see, though, was the suddenly joyful individual in front of him, flaps of saggy skin no longer preventing him from smiling as he stepped forward and nearly threw himself at Sonic before thinking the better of it and falling to his knees on the hallway floor instead.

Sonic scratched his nose. "That fast enough for you?"

"Y-you didn't even go anywhere!" the man stammered, looking up at him with wide eyes.

"Yeah, I get that a lot." Sonic grasped the man's hand and pulled him to his feet. Others were starting to congregate around them. "In all seriousness, though, I actually have no idea what happened. Must've been Espio… but whatever, doesn't matter right now."

Pausing, Sonic scanned the people he could see, taking in the situation – and then addressed them as one. It was time to set things in motion.

"Okay, listen up, folks. Keep following the spiral down. Get as close to the front of the prison as you can, so you're ready when the front gate opens, and so that the people on the upper floors have room to make their way down here too before Eggman and his remaining robots realize something's up." As he spoke, Sonic realized just how much of a concern that was. Lucas, Amber and most likely Espio were near the top of the prison still, and it would take them the longest to make their way down. That meant they were more likely to be caught. "Don't run each other over. Try to stay calm about things, and if anyone asks what you're all doing, just pass on the message and tell them Sonic told you to. Sound like a plan?"

Only a small portion of the people around actually listened to him intently. Most everyone else was wrapped up in their own emotions. Nevertheless, they went along blindly, like they were automated, following the ones who had actually heard him. Knowing he couldn't waste time directing them, Sonic gave one last smile and turned in the opposite direction. Maybe down _hadn't _been the way to go after all; he had to make sure his friends were okay.

_All right, guys. We're finally getting a hold of this!_

xxx

Well, the prison was free, Espio thought to himself grimly.

It was the moment they had been fighting for. And he had been the one to actually do it.

Of course, being surrounded by thousands of killer machines waiting to tear you apart tended to dull even the most potent sense of accomplishment.

The ninja stood stock-still against the control panel in the center of the massive room, hand still on the lever. Pulling it had opened every cell in Meka Tower except one – the one which was, fortunately, already open, though Espio didn't know as much yet.

Tails had confirmed the chameleon's success just a minute ago.

Pulling the lever had also been the key to activating the countless pitch-black humanoids layering the circular wall of the area. Now they came towards him way too quickly, all sets of bright blue eyes locked on him. Predators greedily devouring their prey, even if only with their eyes thus far.

He glanced at the trap door he had used to reach this place. It wasn't completely untouchable, but androids trampled it as they neared him, blocking it, and he could see no end to their approach. Even if he could reach it, he would not be able to open it.

Despite his occupation, despite his lifelong training, despite his conditioned calm attitude, Espio could not help the thought that settled tensely on his conscience as he surveyed the massive odds before him.

_I'm going to die in here._

xxx

"_I've got a bad feeling about this." –Espio, Sonic Heroes_

xxx

You think, Espio? ;P

Hmm, I'd say this chapter was preview enough for the next, eh? Let's leave it at that for now, then. ;) Hope you guys enjoyed, and thanks again for your epic support so far. More excitement to come next chapter, which'll be up pretty soon. Ahh, and lookie at that vivid new review button that FFN made. How purdy. -insert trollface icon here-

…In all seriousness, though – the style of a button is what they deemed a priority amongst all the other issues on this site? Ah well. I still like it here. x3 And at least they _have_ been updating stuff as of late. 'S kinda nice, since I was wondering for a while if the staff still existed. O_o

But I digress! 'Til next time! :)


	30. Chapter 29: Freedom Fight

DanceDream: Heh, no worries, I was gone for over a week anyway so I read everyone else's reviews around the same time as yours. Either way, thanks for making time to comment in the midst of all that! Sounds like you've been busy. Glad you enjoyed the chapter though, what with Espio owning the android and Sonic facing one thing after another, like you said. XD Yeah, ironic how the doors opening worked out, huh? Though, actually, the place isn't really free yet – there's still the matter of getting out, and remember there's the fence outside to conquer, too. ;o Heh, interesting that you'd mention that as our church was just covering that story. O_o You're right, though. Aw, sucks about not being able to get an account yet. Ah well, things happen. :/ Thanks again! Hope you enjoy the new chapter!

x

To everyone else; responses are coming! The reason I'm late is because I only just decided to update this, realizing there's a certain way I want to go about updates this month because of someone's anniversary… ;) So, there'll be a few frequent updates coming up after this one. Hope you can keep up! :D And I will be keeping up with you guys, too, real soon – thanks for all of your comments, compliments and support so far! It'll never go unnoticed. :)

Also, pretty awesome that FFN has a Story Covers feature now, huh? With their track record I'm surprised they got it running smoothly and quickly! (Knock on wood.) It'll be interesting seeing what pics people use/create for their stories. As you can see I already had a bit of fun with it because I'm a dork. :3

Enjoy the new chapter!

CHAPTER 29: FREEDOM FIGHT

Espio let go of the lever and leapt up on the control panel. The odds were not with him… but he would not go down without trying.

Three androids launched themselves at him at once. He gracefully leaped in the air, letting them collide against the control panel. Electricity sizzled loudly as they trembled briefly and then went still. Espio landed and felt the residue of the shock travel up his legs; the control panel had been affected too.

He almost managed to blend in to his surroundings when a hand smacked him off the panel, breaking his focus. He landed with a thump and used the momentum to roll in the opposite direction, getting back to his feet somewhere in the maneuver and making a half-circle to the other side of the control panel. Again he jumped on the flat part of it, putting himself higher than his enemies, so he could see them coming.

_Can they climb?_

One way to find out. The chameleon went further onto the control panel, depressing buttons with his feet, and began to scale the vertical part as quickly as he could. It wasn't often he had to climb, but with enough to grip at, his species was good at it. The controls ascended to the ceiling like a foundational pillar, with various buttons and levers sticking out all over the place almost all the way up to the top. He couldn't imagine what they could all be connected to, but supposed it didn't matter. Eggman was a technical man, and besides, they made decent footholds.

Just as he began to wonder how Eggman and his crew could even reach those controls, he heard the hum of an android's air booster behind him, getting louder by the second.

…He had forgotten about those.

xxx

After pushing through several crowds of people, Sonic had managed to build momentum steadily and was now nearing the top of Meka Tower again, swerving or jumping to avoid any more human-shaped obstacles he encountered. It was somewhat odd running at a constant curve as he followed the spiral, but he was thrilled to be running again either way, even if it wasn't quite the breakneck speed he favored. Soon enough, that would change…

Sonic smiled.

Then all the lights went out and he sped blindly into a cluster of people, tripping over someone's foot and landing face-first on the cold floor.

"Ugh. Could've used a warning…" Sonic moaned, sitting up and massaging his very sore nose. "Sorry folks… hope I didn't get any quills stuck in anybody, but I…"

The lights flickered several times and came back on.

"_Sonic the hedgehog?_"

"I knew he was in here, but I never thought I'd see him personally!"

"You… it's really you. Thank you for setting us free."

"Come with us, Sonic!"

Sonic bit his lip, smiling at the spirit of the people around him but not wanting to get caught up with all the attention right now. He had to get to his friends. _Still, it's not hard to tell I'm near the top of the tower again. People are less weak, physically and mentally…_

"Hurry downward, okay guys? It's a long walk!"

"What about you? Why are you going up?"

"Going to get myself in trouble, again!" He said with a laugh. "See ya!" He flashed his pearly whites and started off again, not waiting to hear any of their responses. The lights kept flickering, and every now and then a cell door closed and opened spontaneously. "Jeez, Espio," he muttered. "You having a party or something?"

Still, Sonic had to admit that with all the people moving about and the lights flashing randomly, the place looked pretty alive.

xxx

The android grasped Espio by the ankle and jerked him down off the control panel. Instinctually, he uncurled his stiff tail and whipped it against the thing's torso. When that didn't work he tried to wrap its neck, but couldn't reach. These androids had the most secure grip he had ever encountered…

It thrust him downward from a height. He smacked the edge of the control panel with his shoulder and cried out. It was the only time he could recall one of the H-series robots willingly letting go of their target, but that hardly held any significance now. They weren't trying to capture him. They were trying to kill him.

He should have known pulling that lever would cause consequences. He should have known.

It had been so obvious!

Espio made himself get to his feet. He had gotten himself in this, and now it was up to him to try and get himself out. He had the Chaotix Detective Agency to get back to… Vector and Charmy were his coworkers, but they were his friends too…

And Tails and Amy…

Clearing his mind, Espio withdrew his knives and began expertly slashing at every enemy within reach.

It wasn't about defeating a thousand powerful fighters. It was just about defeating the one that was right in front of him… and then repeating the process.

He had to think of it that way. He could not let the overwhelming situation get the better of him; this was his element.

"Espio, where are you now?" Tails's said through the communicator, voice marred by slight static. "Have you gone back down to the main portion of the prison?"

The chameleon ducked to dodge a fist, then hopped from his crouched position, narrowly avoiding being taken out by a sweeping attack. "Not… exactly," he said. "I'm working on it. I've been ambushed."

"Uh-oh… how many?"

"More than I can count," Espio said honestly.

"Espio…!" Tails breathed. "You need to get out of there! You know that even _one _of those things is a challenge."

"I'm working towards that, but it might take a while." As he ducked and dodged, Espio caught a glimpse of one of the slightly different models of android a little ways off: a sprinkler. He mentally groaned, not at the thing itself, but at Eggman's nickname for them. Seriously, _spr-_

"How many?" the fox asked again.

"…Thousands." Espio watched the sprinkler android spraying the floors with water, apparently attempting to clean up the mess that was currently being made out of this area. It still struck him as odd that that was their purpose unless they were ordered otherwise. He had never really considered it before, but how else would Eggman's mega fortresses stay tidy? The chameleon recalled one time he had met with Knuckles, the echidna being a former close friend and teammate. At some point during their conversation, Knuckles had told him about the robots in maid suits on the inside of the Egg Carrier. At least this was a _slight_ step up.

Tails said decisively, "I need to find a way in there."

"No!" Espio snapped without really thinking about it. "Your place is outside the prison. We cannot have everybody in this place; it's an invitation for failure and you know that."

"No it's not!" Tails protested stubbornly. "Not now that the place is free! I can come in there, and… and…"

"The front gate has not been opened yet. I don't know how to open it."

"Yes it is! Something you did must have opened it, because my radar's picking it up! Don't touch anything else on the control panel!"

"Okay, I won't, but…"

"So that means I can come in there. Espio… Sonic and Knuckles don't have communicators, so the only way I can contact them is if I go in there and warn them that you're in trouble! You have to understand that! I know I'm supposed to stay out here for now, and it's risky since Eggman'll try to close this place up again once he finds out you opened it, but I think he's out hunting Chaos Emeralds right now anyway, and…"

"Tails." Espio cut him off, then grunted, tightening his stomach just in time to bear a direct blow that landed there. He fell back and again tried to make himself invisible. "I-It's too dangerous."

"What, because I'm a kid? Because Amy's a kid?"

"No. Because…" He coughed. This was _not _an ideal time for such an argument, and the fact that Tails insisted upon it regardless proved that in some ways, the fox _was _still a kid. But of course Espio knew better than to say so right now. "Listen, Tails. You two are the _only people our side has _outside the prison that can do anything about it." Espio's tone became strained as he continued avoiding the robots' insistent attacks. Sweat flew off his brow as he turned his head to make himself aware of his surroundings. "Do you not see how important of a role you two play, Tails? Even if the chance is small, suppose Eggman _were _to lock Meka Tower's front gate while you were inside. How would we stop him then? How would we have ever gotten as far as we did without you and Amy protecting the Master Emerald and Chaos Emeralds, and without your radar? All of those things you would not be able to do if you were trapped in here."

"But… but I…" Tails stammered in a deflated, watery voice, "I care about you, Espio! I'm so tired of people getting hurt!"

"I care about you too," the chameleon murmured, finally succeeding in blending in. The humanoids were still coming towards the spot they had last seen him. He weaved through them, trying to get to the trap door.

"I know it's risky," the fox began again, "but so is staying here. Amy can watch the Master Emerald and our three Chaos Emeralds. I trust her. Besides… what's to stop me, anyway? Sonic's tried to stop me from doing things before, but I don't always listen to him, and most times he thanks me for that later. I'll… I'll come anyway! I can't just let them hurt you, Espio."

The trap door was only yards away, but he couldn't get to it. The androids were bunched too close together, and if he so much as brushed against one of them they would be aware of his presence and attack. His shoulder screamed in agony. "Miles," he said sternly, evenly, as he wedged his way closer to safety, "I _forbid_ you to come here!"

For the first time during their argument, Tails did not respond.

Espio made himself as thin as he could as he tried to avoid physical contact with the robots. The trap door was feet away now, taunting him, mocking him with its proximity. If only the androids would spread out to uncover it so he could open it…

The androids were constantly moving, searching. The cluster he had started through was becoming unintentionally tighter. He tried to hold his breath and make himself smaller, because anything less would make him that half-centimeter closer to the foes surrounding him. One was already within an inch of him. Just when he thought he was done for, it turned away abruptly, facing one of its comrades.

"What _are _you _doing_?" It demanded, sounding exasperated. Between its arm and body, Espio could see whom it was addressing; the sprinkler bot. "This is no time to clean up shrapnel; help your fellows fight this menace!"

While it was faced away, Espio rammed it with his knife, feeling only the slightest resistance as it wedged between its head and neck, tearing wires in half while the sprinkler bot reprogrammed itself and made to attack. Not wasting any time, Espio made a beeline for the trapdoor. It was _right there_.

He grasped the latch. But it was too late; the android had reacted fast to the other's demand. It launched itself after him, quickly secured his injured arm in its normal hand, and pulled him back. Renewed pain seared through his shoulder. For some reason he remembered the day Tails had fought against an H-series robot for the first time. The fox's shoulder had gotten hurt too, and it had sent him into a panic. Espio had told Tails to fight like Sonic, to control himself, to be brave.

All the self-control and bravery in the world wouldn't help this situation. There were just too many of them.

xxx

As Sonic reached the top section of the tower, he heard metallic pounding. It was uneven and unpredictable, too vague to pinpoint to an exact cause. He wondered if it was just the sound of people storming down the spiral, and he hadn't noticed it earlier…?

"Sonic!" called a voice from further up the hallway. Two voices in harmony, he realized.

"Heya, Lucas! I told you that wasn't the last you'd see of me!"

"I know, I just can't get rid of you, can I? You're like… a leech, or something."

Sonic scratched his nose indignantly. "I'll stick with hedgehog, if it's all the same to you. _Quills _will stick to ya just as well as a leech, thankyouverymuch."

Lucas just shoved him and started walking.

Sonic grinned up at him and then turned to the other person who had said his name; Amber. "How's it going? Holding up okay?"

"Just fine," she said with a smile that was making a respectable effort to look confident. Maybe it was.

"Glad to hear it. We need to make our way down as fast as we can. It'd be great if you two could help me hurry people up. It's going to take a while for everybody to get out of this huge place, and I wouldn't be surprised if Eggman's already aware of what happened. I imagine the controls to this place's exit are in the same place as all the other controls, so Espio probably took care of that too. There's just the matter of actually _getting out_."

"Any idea how long it'll take to get down there, Sonic?" Amber asked. Sonic sighed reluctantly.

"Several hours at best, with all the crowding. Maybe the day. That's why I came back up here. Eggman put us on the top floor in case something like this happened. The higher up people are more valuable to him, and he doesn't want us to escape."

"But you can run fast! Why don't you-?"

Sonic held up a hand. "Don't even go there. You guys know I'm not leaving anyone behind."

"Sonic," Lucas interrupted, "do you hear noise? Like, a lot of clanking?"

"I was wondering if I was the only one who found that weird," the hedgehog mumbled under his breath. "Sounds like it's coming from above us?"

"Yeah." Lucas glanced up at the ceiling curiously, as if that might reveal the source of the noise. "I thought we were _on _the top floor?"

"Top floor as far as _we _know," Sonic said. "I… I think something is going on, guys. I gotta find a way to get higher. Listen, you should start heading down and tell anyone you see to move as fast as they can so everyone has a chance to escape. I'm going to…"

"Let me come, Sonic. Maybe I can help."

Sonic glanced away. "No offense, Lucas, but this is one situation where I think you'd just get in the way. I have a feeling something's really, _really _off here."

The older male hesitated for a moment, face unreadable, then nodded and backed off. "Okay."

"Wh-what?" Sonic looked astonished. "That simple?"

"I'm not new to this stuff anymore," Lucas said with a smile. "I get it. I don't want to get involved if it'll hold you back." He turned to Amber. "Come on. We'll head down together, and help whoever we can on the way. Somebody's bound to need it."

"Thanks, guys," Sonic said. "I appreciate it."

Lucas, already determinedly walking in the opposite direction, waved a hand in acknowledgment. Amber smiled briefly at Sonic before turning to catch up to him.

xxx

_I really am going to die in here._

As Espio was thrown mercilessly into the wall – as far away from his escape as he could possibly get – he felt pain spread through his bones like a poison.

Ninja training had been harsh. Very harsh. But it had never been this bad.

You just couldn't train for reality.

"Hey. L-Listen to me." He tried to make his voice clear through the pain as he addressed the robot that still had a single-handed death grip on him, holding him against the wall. "Your master had you cleaning before. Who are you going to listen to? Your dead comrade, or Doctor Eggman? I would go with the latter, if I were you."

It was a move out of need that he didn't expect to work. He never expected it to work. But after a moment's hesitation, the android backed away with a look of realization in its blue eyes… and proceeded to continue cleaning.

Too tired to be amused, Espio tried to refocus his drifting vision. His own dizziness was causing him to see many more humanoids than their actually were – as if a several thousand hadn't been enough. It was all he could do to get up and brace himself against the wall as they closed in on him. He tried to strike them with punches, kicks, knives… making every blow count just as he always had… but it still wasn't enough. They were overwhelming him like he had never been overwhelmed before. He couldn't keep up with the movements of that many foes. He was only one individual.

It was no wonder to him now that the androids had been capable of capturing so many people and rendering GUN all but immobile. He had never imagined there were so many. Acting against them would be defeat – for the soldiers _and_ their families, if Eggman's demeanor as of late was anything to go by.

Espio was beginning to think there was something more to that horrid demeanor than was meeting the eye. But now he had no time to consider such things. He would be lucky to live long enough to consider it again.

He supposed that, if this _was_ the end, it was a good way for it to come about. He had freed the prison. People would be able to live their lives again, assuming they escaped the tower and Eggman was stopped (and he had to believe Sonic would succeed at that part for his own comfort).Tails and Amy were still safe. Vector and Charmy would see an increase in clientele once again, and maybe be able to live comfortably for a change.

How much more could he ask for?

But still, something inside him twitched with passion. He had found so much purpose in this fight. Saved so many lives. Became close with people he never would have even talked to otherwise. Espio had never seen his life as purposeless, but now it seemed to have been infused with even more reason and meaning than he could have imagined before. It was potential he hadn't realized was there in the midst of his detective career, and his prideful and serious outlook...

Despite the struggles they endured, Sonic, Tails and Amy always seemed so hopeful. Now he realized why. They had adventure. They had purpose. They had each other. Each was self-sufficient in their own way – Sonic was eternally optimistic and resilient beyond measure, Tails was vastly intelligent and open-minded, Amy was fierce and loyal and cheerful – but their comradeship and closeness amplified those qualities to levels he rarely saw otherwise. They were more than the sum of their parts.

His senses were dull and his body ached. Only because of this did Espio fail to duck out of the way in time, and an android grasped his throat, pressing him into the wall again. He tucked his chin against its hand as much as possible to keep his airway open, and glared straight into those mechanical blue eyes for the briefest of moments. He stabbed the robot's arm repeatedly, hoping to loosen its grasp if nothing else.

He would not cower before death.

The android struck him directly in the face. Blood poured from his nose but lightheadedness swallowed up the pain.

Others were approaching. Soon he would have no room to maneuver or fight back. No opportunity to gain the upper hand, even against one robot. Still, he tried to work free, refusing to submit to probability.

The environment around him – the beams on the ceiling, the curved wall, the blue-gray floor, the androids – all of it became a sandy blur as the robot struck him again. Others came to join in, as if hungry for a piece of the victory themselves, even though they were merely doing their default jobs. Espio felt sick as fists hit repeatedly. Most of the strikes weren't strong – the robots had given themselves very little room to fight well in their attempt to close in on him – but the ones that hit his abdomen made him want to crumple over and pass out. He had to hold his breath to keep from dry-heaving. There was nothing there to throw up anyway. Food had been so scarce.

Another punch. He barely felt it. His nerves were going numb.

_It seems we all have a price to pay for attempting to restore freedom…_

He was quite certain no truer thought had ever crossed his mind.

Tails and Amy had been through an unreasonable amount of stress, having to refrain themselves from acting irrationally while they watched their town and their friends get captured or harmed terribly. Tails had been no stranger to fights himself, either, and had faced many androids bravely and succeeded at collecting some Chaos Emeralds. But that hadn't been without a massive struggle either, one that Espio knew had scared Tails more than just about anything.

Knuckles had been impersonated and torn away from his duty without warning, left to face the guilt and loss of dignity that entailed, and stuck in the lower levels of Meka Tower for months. He should have been higher up because of his talent with Chaos energy, but Eggman had wanted him separated from Sonic so neither of them could help the other. Knuckles had gotten the worse end of that stick, forced to go hungry and face neglect from remaining androids that were left unmonitored on the lower floors. The nothingness down there had to be just as bad, in its own way, as the chaos up top.

And Sonic—

Espio's mind stalled mid-thought. _Sonic…_ had just torn up through the trap door in a spin dash, grabbed an android around the neck on his way up, and slammed it down on another android's head as he landed. For a second, it looked quite awesome, even through the chameleon's unfocused vision. Then both pieces of machinery exploded, sending fiery shrapnel everywhere, including right at the blue hedgehog, who clumsily attempted to stumble out of the way while yelping in pain as some of the pieces nicked him on their way by.

_Yeah, _the chameleon thought sarcastically to himself, _fight like Sonic. Control and bravery. Right. Great example to give an eight-year-old kid._

But then the memory of that offhanded advice gained some validity as Sonic quickly recovered, hurtling himself into the nearest cluster of androids and destroying them all, his movement too fast for them to follow. Though the result was obviously chaotic, his movement was precise and graceful. He had just needed to get in the frame of mind.

Espio could see the cuts and burns on Sonic's body when the hedgehog whirred around to look at him, letting him know he saw him and he was going to do something about it.

"You're _still_ an idiot," the chameleon breathed in a thready voice. "One of us being up here is bad enough. This is suicidal."

Any remnants of discomfort faded from Sonic's expression entirely and he grinned. It was almost as though he was using that discomfort as motivation to fuel his fight; like some part of him appreciated every part of the dance, every motion, every blow – even if he was on the receiving end of it. It was all part of the challenge; part of the game.

"Nobody's getting killed today," the blue blur said with rough confidence, still making his way towards Espio. "Come on, Es. No need for the drama. So you got roughed up a bit. Doesn't mean you're going to die; you're stronger than that. We both are. Are ya with it, bud?"

Espio drew a deep, empowering breath, realizing how far his thoughts had gone unchecked. He had had a moment of weakness, allowing himself to believe this would be the end. It wasn't how he normally thought. Then again, he had never been in a situation quite this deadly before. But that was no excuse.

The androids near him, distracted by Sonic, had paused in their ruthless attack.

"Go invisible, or whatever it is you do," Sonic told him, taking Espio's solid eye contact as a yes. "I'll distract 'em while you take a quick breather. Then we'll get out of here."

"I'll need to fight too, if we're to have any chance." Espio coughed out. "Sonic, you won't get us out of here without getting yourself hurt."

Not pausing in his movements, Sonic replied, "Yeah, and I can live with that. Wouldn't be the first time I've—"

The hedgehog was cut off abruptly as he nearly swallowed a fist aiming for his mouth. He swerved sideways just in time to soften the impact of the blow, letting it glance of his cheek.

"—Yeah, you get the idea," Sonic said dryly, rubbing the soon-to-be bruise. He turned round and faced the robot. "As for _you_… I didn't ask for a demonstration of that point!" While saying, he struck out with a lightning-fast roundhouse kick, making the robot's head bend as joints and wires gave out. He back-flipped away as it blew up, destroying a few other androids in its explosion.

Wasting no more of the opportunity he had been granted, Espio forced himself to move, driving both knives into the neck of the distracted android before him. Since the double attack left him vulnerable, he pushed himself off the ground and used the leverage the knives gave him to flip himself over the robot, withdrawing the weapons at the apex of his flight.

By the time he landed, he had focused to blend in, granting him the precious advantage of stealth once more. As the androids closed in on Sonic – who was keeping up with their attacks surprisingly well for not fighting in a while, Espio had to admit, but would inevitably be overwhelmed eventually – he ran forward with his knives at the ready, carving himself a path towards the hedgehog.

Every muscle in his body whined with soreness, his stomach ached, and he still couldn't see right. But this was the opportunity he had so desperately needed. With Sonic helping him and him helping Sonic, they could fight their way back down to the scanner room. It was just a matter of getting there…

"Sonic," Espio strained upon reaching his comrade, touching his arm gently to let him know where he was. "…Thank you."

Sonic smiled in the chameleon's general direction. "You freed the prison. Thank _you_."

"But your cell… these controls couldn't free you, could they?"

A chuckle. "Long story for a time when we're not receiving a total beat-down from a trillion of Eggman's monstrosities at the top of Meka Tower."

Espio gave a weak laugh. "I suppose that's fair."

"Are you gonna be all r—_umph!_" Sonic grunted as a nearby android took advantage of his split attention and shoved him into Espio. They both cried out in surprise.

"I _was, _until you sunk your quills into me," Espio muttered as he eased Sonic away from him. Then another android rocketed towards them – towards _him, _precisely – but veered off at the last second and directed all of its bodyweight at Sonic. In one catastrophic movement, it pushed him to the ground, holding him beneath its weight.

Sonic screamed. And immediately their roles were traded. It was Espio's job now to do something, just as it had been Sonic's a few minutes ago when the chameleon was pinned against the wall.

Not hesitating, Espio threw himself at the robot with his knives out.

"Espio… get to the trap door…"

"Don't insult me like that."

"Why? Being up here is suicidal, right?" Sonic had his hands against the android's chest, trying to pry himself out from underneath as it tried to keep him there.

"Were you… _joking_ when you said get to the trap door? You knew I wouldn't?"

"Who, me? I _neeever _joke."

The chameleon shook his head, then thrust one knife hard into the center of the android's back. The weak exterior split like it was aluminum and the android, disabled, tumbled off Sonic's body. Espio used only the best of weapons, after all. "You're odd, Sonic."

Once again, both fighting partners forgot that androids had a tendency to blow up.

"Well," Espio said when the smoke cleared, "Now that we're both semi-okay and in the same place, let's get out of here."

He held out a hand. Sonic grasped it and pulled himself up, then, without letting go, broke into a run towards the trap door. "Just hang on tight, Es! We're gonna white-knuckle our way through this one, m'kay?"

Espio struck at robots with his the knife in his free hand while Sonic shoved his way past those he couldn't reach, both of them adrenaline-wired enough to push through the limbs reaching out to stop them. Many of the androids had shifted to group around the area they had just been, leaving the floor near the trap door almost clear…

"Look out!"

Sonic opened his mouth to respond and found himself taking an unexpected drink. He was pretty sure his eyes took a drink too, and released Espio's wrist to clear his own vision of the sudden irritation. They had briefly passed through the sprinkler android's stream of water. During the moment of distraction, other bots had time to react and placed themselves near the trap door, blocking their path once again. Sonic groaned in frustration – then saw that he wasn't the _only _being whose progress had been stunted by the sudden burst. Only a few feet away, one robot cackled and sparked as it was electrocuted, then collapsed anticlimactically before emitting a sorry puff of an explosion.

Sonic looked back and forth between the sprinkler android and the regular one, and grinned. _Oh, Eggman, you silly thing. Should've made the patrol droids waterproof too… Your loss…_

"Sonic…"

"Don't 'Sonic' me now!" The hedgehog shot off toward the robot. It sprayed away like a fire hose all around, not really knowing what else to do with itself since the room was essentially an irrevocable mess at this point. For his part, Sonic sidestepped, jumped and weaved, trying to stay away from it if for no other reason than to prove he was faster. "That's right," he said with a smirk. "You just turn that thing up as high as it can go…"

_Wanna do some cleaning? We'll do some cleaning all right._

Sonic sprung forward, slapped one gloved hand over the nozzle and held tight, then flung himself onto the android's shoulders piggyback style. Once he steadied himself and set his aim, he pulled his hand away and released the pressure, and a torrent of water burst out of the nozzle. _"Yeah! Wipe the flooooooooor!" _ With triumph that was almost sarcastic, Sonic drew the thing across the air horizontally, drenching about a dozen androids along with Espio. Then, never letting go, he flipped himself onto the ground again and pointed the nozzle at the sprinkler android's own head on the off chance it would actually work. To his surprise, it _did_. The android was effectively electrocuting itself. Sonic stepped away fast, playfully putting one hand over his mouth, an expression that clearly said "Oopsie! " while the android ceased functioning and blew up.

Nearby, Espio rubbed water out of his eyes and thought to himself that there was probably a plethora of remarks he could choose from right about now. Then again, with Sonic's track record of stupid jokes lately, it probably wasn't even worth it to try. Sonic probably had a smart remark just waiting in line from his reservoir…

"Espio, you are _soaked!_"

…Alternatively, that was a good way to let someone know that they were soaked.

The chameleon face-palmed and then dragged his hand downward to wipe away some more of the excess moisture. Somewhere in that second, it fully dawned on him that Sonic had just cleared their path, and he opened his eyes to see the trap door inviting them without a soul standing in their way. Or a chunk of metal, even.

"Laugh later, Sonic – let's go while we have a chance!"

Sonic obliged promptly, taking hold of Espio's hand once more and dashing for the door. What remained of the massive cluster of androids tried to close in on them like walls coming together. But this time it was the androids that were too late.

Quickly, Sonic swung open the hatch and jumped through, still holding onto Espio, and slammed it behind him. He clung onto the handle and helped Espio to do the same, leaving both of them hanging there comically.

"Lemme see one of your knives," Sonic said quickly. Espio gave him one carefully, and he jammed it through the handle and into the ceiling, preventing the door from being opened again before finally letting go. They hit the ground next to each other.

For a long, quiet, well-deserved moment, hedgehog and chameleon just laid against the cool floor of the scanner room. Sonic closed his eyes; the light combined with the pure white walls was abrasive.

"Are you injured?" Espio asked a few minutes later, some substance in his voice again, though he was still breathing heavily.

"Of course," Sonic answered tiredly.

"I am too. Nothing I can't recover from, though."

"Good, because you'd be kind of screwed if you couldn't."

"I appreciate the sentiment."

"'S what I'm here for."

Though it was never expressed aloud, they were both quite certain they'd get up after a brief respite. As it turned out, a 'brief respite' turned out to be about six hours of sleep, and the next time either of them awoke was the following morning.

xxx

_"Forgive me, but this is our duty." –Espio, Sonic Heroes_

xxx

_In the next chapter: Sonic and the gang make their way through the spirals of Meka Tower, but it's a long way down, especially with the crowd in front of them struggling to escape as well. It is a situation where the utmost importance is sticking together – but at the worst time, Sonic finds himself at odds with someone on the team. The rift may cause problems within and without, if they draw too much attention…_

Next chapter will be up pretty soon! As always, hope you enjoyed the read and I look forward to your comments. Later!


	31. Chapter 30: Long Time No See

Hey guys. I don't find myself with much to say at the moment, other than I hope you enjoy the new chapter! You can fathom when the next update will be. ;) In the meantime, I think several of you will be quite interested with what this chapter brings, despite that it is somewhat shorter than the last few. (Really, it's not that so much as many other chapters in this story being oddly _long_, but I digress.)

Enjoy.~

CHAPTER 31: LONG TIME NO SEE

In the morning, Sonic and Espio – sore but otherwise rejuvenated – hastily made to catch up with Lucas and Amber, who had over a night's worth head start on them now. Sonic didn't say so, but he hoped they had made it out already.

Sonic had come out of the fight with bruises, cuts and burns, and an extremely tender midsection from being pinned briefly beneath the android. The minor but irritating injuries were enough to set his pace to one Espio could easily keep up with. Most of the chameleon's problems were confined to his shoulder and face, the former aching agonizingly from landing on it against the corner of the control panel and the latter slightly swollen and bruised in appearance.

It took an hour and a half for them to catch up to their human comrades, who were about three-fourths of the way to the bottom of Meka Tower. Thankfully most of the former prisoners had already hurried their way down, letting their journey be consistent without having to stop for traffic. Their shadows lengthened and shortened in quick succession with each of the red lights they passed beneath. It gave the encouraging illusion of quick progress despite their modest speed. Still, it could have been worse.

Oddly, the blue blur was relieved when they had finally closed the gap to their comrades and could slow down. Sore muscles ached with both pain and relief. The majority of it was from the fight, but the way it felt also told him that a small part was the stiffness that came with using such muscles again. Muscles that had been still and sedentary for so long.

Amber looked horrified upon seeing the evidence of the battle; Lucas grinned and gave Sonic a friendly slap, making him wince.

"Oh, sorry," he said, looking like he at least _partially _meant it. "Seriously, though, looks like it was a good fight. Leave it to you to go and get yourself beat up."

"You seem like you expected this outcome," Espio commented.

Lucas shrugged. "We heard the androids stomping around up there. Sounded like there were a lot of them. Amber here was getting hysterical."

"I was not," the girl protested, albeit not very convincingly as she turned away with a frown. "So were you," she muttered to Lucas under her breath.

"Nah," Lucas said with a swish of the hand. "I knew you'd pull through, Sonic. It's what you do."

The two friends exchanged an easygoing smile. Then Sonic gestured off to Espio and said, "Give this guy some credit too. He freed this place. I just helped him fight the androids that were triggered by it afterwards."

Espio looked at them briefly, and then started walking. "I appreciate the sentiment, but we should keep moving. We're almost to the bottom, and I don't want to be sealed off in here again because we spent too much time catching up."

"You call this 'sealed off?'" Sonic muttered ironically and without really thinking about it, following the chameleon. "I've got a different definition."

The chameleon shook his head, quickly understanding Sonic's offhanded remark. "How can you even say things like that?" he asked with shock and even a bit of irritation as they kept walking. When the hedgehog didn't respond after a few seconds, he stopped and turned to look. He found himself staring into a solemn emerald gaze.

"If I couldn't say things like that I would never say a word," Sonic said almost self-consciously. He had on a look on his face like he had never expected to be confronted about a mere flippant remark, and like he would not have thought anything of it otherwise. But because of Espio's question, he had. "And then I think I'd just drown."

Sonic was an advocate for humor and a positive thinker. But that didn't mean there weren't negative bits there. His defense was to cast it all in a humorous light. Espio wanted to hit himself for not perceiving such a reaction sooner. The detective felt deeply embarrassed and awkward in spite of himself as the hedgehog turned away and trotted forward. "I'm sorry," he murmured quietly, some of the rarest words he ever spoke.

He would never know for sure if Sonic heard him or not. But right after he said it, the hedgehog pointed ahead with one arm outstretched, for them to keep going. The timing could have been total coincidence, or it could have meant Sonic was implying more with that lighthearted forward gesture than it actually said. Figuring that was indeed the best notion right now either way, Espio was content to let the subject drop as he followed his blue comrade promptly.

"I still can't believe how huge this place is," Lucas mused as they walked briskly. He hadn't heard the quiet exchange. "I mean, I knew it was big, but not _this _big. It's probably the walking distance of a freaking city!"

"_Follow me, set me free, trust me and we will escape from the city. I'll make it through. Follow, follow me. Set me free…_"

"Er, Sonic, what—?"

"Oh, you just stuck a song in my head." Sonic swished a hand again. "Never mind, you wouldn't understand." _I'm not even so sure I understand. Where'd _that _come from?_

"I didn't think you could sing even _that _good." A curious frown crumpled Lucas's features. "You don't strike me as someone who knows how to sing."

Sonic shrugged nonchalantly. "'S about as good as it gets."

They kept rounding the seemingly endless curve, Sonic actually walking awkwardly as if he wasn't used to doing it much. After a few minutes something red caught his eye, and for once it wasn't the lighting.

"Knuckles?"

"Ah, so _there's _Sonic," the echidna said, looking irritable. He finished his approach, long dreadlocks swaying only slightly as they were rigid with his dark mood. Violet eyes locked onto emerald ones and he glared. "I knew you were trapped in here. If you weren't, you would have fixed this mess already."

"Nice to see you too," Sonic retorted.

"Don't be smart with me right now! Don't you know how bad things are? You should've been down on the floor I was stuck on. Eggman had most of his androids on the upper floors, so there would be higher security to keep a certain _someone _from escaping."

Sonic looked taken aback, realizing the full significance of the situation for the first time. They had been steadily defeating those androids, and he already knew that doing so had caused problems on the lower floors. But he _didn't _know that just his own desire to escape had played a role. Androids weren't only less on the lower floors because they had been defeating them – it was because they were trying to keep Sonic from escaping.

But what on earth could he have done about that? Not tried to escape? Not tried to help any of the people around him?

It was a double-edged sword.

Knuckles continued harshly, in spite of or perhaps oblivious to this catch-22: "So the people on the lower floors weren't even fed regularly. Someone started crying from starvation and wouldn't stop, so one of the _very few _robots down there beat the crap out of him! You don't know how many times I had to see things like that down here! And here you are, all 'nice to see you too,' making smart-ass comments like everything is okay. What's _wrong _with you, Sonic?"

"Hey, cool it," Sonic said, trying to wrap his mind around the new information. He hadn't gotten the impression that Eggman had moved androids up to their floor from the lower ones. If that had been the case, it would have given the impression that their numbers weren't dwindling at all, right? Because they would always be replaced? "You act like this whole thing is my fault. You know I'm doing what I can, and besides… I don't see _you _guarding your pet rock right now."

"Well I don't go around claiming I have what it takes to stop Eggman or telling everyone everything's going to work out. You do! Yet here we are! If you're going to _say _something, then you should be able to do it!"

Sonic flicked the air with his hand. "I'm not putting up with your blame game just because you let this place get to you. I've got more important things to worry about."

"Hah!" Knuckles clenched his trembling fists. "If you think it got to me, you're missing the point entirely! _You _get to me. Your arrogance gets to me! You make people believe in you and it's unwarranted!"

"Unwarranted?" Sonic scoffed, tone heating. "_How _many times have we defeated Eggman, now?"

"None, because in case you haven't noticed, _he's still around!_ And besides, life's unpredictable. _You _of all people know that! Just because we've stopped Eggman's plans before doesn't mean it'll always be that easy!"

"Think what you want," Sonic said simply, and turned around to continue on with Espio, Lucas and Amber who had all wisely kept walking. The motion pushed Knuckles to the edge, and he cried out in anger and tackled Sonic to the ground.

"Don't you turn away from me, hedgehog!"

"_Hey!_" Lucas shouted, hearing the commotion and running back to where Sonic and Knuckles were brawling on the hallway floor. "Cut it out! This isn't the time! Sonic!"

"Sonic got hurt earlier!" Amber warned frantically. "You're going to make things worse… please stop…"

"Sorry, miss, but Sonic asked for it!" Knuckles growled, throwing a punch and missing by nary an inch as Sonic managed to wriggle out from under his grasp.

"Did not!" Sonic snarled. "Who attacked _who_, here?"

"Shut up, you impulsive, selfish bastard!"

"Ohhh, I'm gonna need some lotion for that b—"

"_RAGHHH!_"

"Umph!"

Several yards away, Espio guided Lucas and Amber a few steps backward. "Best stay out of this. They'll work it out."

Sonic backed down the hall and then reversed his momentum unexpectedly, rolling himself up and shooting forward along the ground, taking Knuckles's feet out from underneath him. The echidna recovered quickly and caught Sonic's next attack by the foot, slamming him against the ground with maybe a quarter of his strength. It was plenty to cause pain.

With one foot still free, the blue blur kicked him in the side of the head. Knuckles recoiled, growling under his breath as he clutched the area with one hand. As he expected, Sonic used the apparent disadvantage to throw another strike, but Knuckles dodged, hitting him with a back-fist as inertia carried him by.

"Knuckles, _wait!_" Sonic hollered as the guardian rushed at him again. "Seriously, let's take this outside! We're almost to the bottom! Don't you want to get out of here?"

"What, outside? Where you can run away? Is that what you want?"

The remark hit home, and Sonic's face twisted into a defensive scowl. "You know me better than that, _pal._"

Hedgehog and echidna cried out in simultaneous determination as they threw themselves back in the fight.

xxx

"Feel better now?" Sonic asked some ten minutes later, wiping nonexistent dust off his body.

Knuckles didn't look much less irritable than he had before, but there was at least some good humor in the expression as he said, "I think I needed that."

Sonic stretched his torso carefully, squeezing his eyes shut as the still-sore muscles protested. "…I didn't."

"Can we move, now?" Lucas asked from a short distance away, voice bouncing around in the empty hallway. He looked at a wristwatch he wasn't wearing. "If we weren't already the last ones to leave, we will be now."

They rounded another spiral without saying anything. Even Amber looked uncomfortable in the midst of the dwelling silence.

"Listen, Sonic," Knuckles began finally, and the suddenness of the words made everyone jump. "I'm sorry. Okay? You didn't quite deserve what I said back there. Not all of it, anyway."

"That's a pretty impressive apology, coming from you."

"Always with the snark. This is why I never apologize to you."

Sonic shrugged one shoulder. "It's all good. Maybe you're right, a little. It's just… I'd rather see people have hope than not have hope, no matter how it turns out in the end. And I've always kept my word so far, haven't it?"

Knuckles gave a half-nod. Sonic couldn't tell if he was unconvinced or if he was just trying to look unconvinced.

"I was only kidding when I dissed your apology, by the way. I mean, why not have a sense of humor?"

"This isn't exactly a humorous situation, Sonic."

_I wouldn't know that, would I? _"All the more reason."

Knuckles shrugged too. "Fair enough," he said, then met the hedgehog's eyes. "Sonic… all the stuff I told you about this place back there was actually true. People really were starved. The androids were always in a bad mood because there were never enough to carry the workload, with most of them up higher. They tended to take it out on us. It was rough." He paused briefly, then continued on with quiet sincerity: "I know you had your own battle, though."

Sonic's expression remained neutral. "We all did," he murmured. "Don't undermine that. Don't single me out."

Knuckles shook his head. "You don't understand. Most of the people in Meka Tower had no idea you were in their midst until they heard Eggman… torturing you. And when that's the first thing people hear from Sonic the hedgehog… it's not a good indicator about the situation as a whole."

Sonic threw his hands up dramatically. "Way to be all ominous, Knux. Do we have to talk about this?"

"I'm being realistic. Besides, I already talked about my problems. Nice change of pace to talk about someone else's problems. Why… am I bothering you?" There was a mocking edge to the echidna's tone now as he glanced at Sonic with a sidelong grin.

They walked past a turn in the hallway; one of the branches that led to the inner spiral. Sonic seized the opportunity to shove Knuckles towards it. "Nope," he said as the echidna's brisk momentum carried him into the wall, "not a bit."

"You two…" Espio said, a warning in his voice. Sonic snickered.

"You're dodging the severity of what happened here… everything, and the people affected by it, yourself included," Knuckles said, the irritation seeping back into his tone as he rubbed his face and caught up again. "No wonder you never realized how bad things were here. It's all a game to you. Want me to say it? Fine. This place got to me. At least I can be honest and admit it."

"Sounds like you're jealous because I don't have any confessions to make," Sonic said, though his tone was playful rather than irritated as he raised an eyebrow at his kinda-friend. Knuckles fixed him with a glare. "What, seriously? Yeah, okay, bad stuff's happened. Eggman's still strong, folks are still trapped, I got tortured, people got starved and neglected." He flicked a hand to the air. "Sometimes things_ just suck_. But the world keeps on turning and we keep on fighting."

Knuckles sighed, looking on ahead.

"What do you want me to say, Knux? You're torturing me here." No reaction whatsoever. Sonic sighed. "I honestly don't know what you're after. Why are you like this?"

"You're not sincere even now," Knuckles replied, arms crossed. "Do yourself and everyone around you a favor. All these people you've convinced to believe in you. Take something seriously for a change, and maybe we can stop this before _someone _unintentionally makes it worse _again_. Things are already bad enough. This is exactly what I was trying to tell you earlier, too!"

"You don't tell people things with your fists first, Knux!"

"Well obviously _talking _doesn't work with you."

Sonic crossed his arms too, and kept walking forward with a scowl on his face; a near perfect imitation of Knuckles next to him.

"What are you doing?" the echidna snapped.

"Being serious," Sonic replied in a tone too serious to actually be serious. "Because this is the only way anything can ever get accomplished ever."

Knuckles shook his head. "Damn, this conversation got way off track. And _stop _that," he said to Sonic, who was now fixing him with his best grim-dark face about two inches away. The hedgehog backed off and let his arms uncross. They came to a mutual halt and the guardian turned to him, gaze softening as much as his gaze ever softened. "So you're all right, then?"

For a few precious moments they held eye contact as the friends they really were, behind the hot-temperedness and rivalry. Sonic smiled and said, "You better believe it."

Knuckles gave him a gentle, approving slap on the shoulder and continued down the path. The others were a good ways ahead now.

"Knux?" Sonic jogged after him, looking at him with genuine compassion. "Are you?"

The guardian chuckled once and his violet eyes were alight with readiness. "You better believe it, hedgehog. Now come on, we should catch up to Espio and your other friends. We've got to get out of this place, and that's just the start."

Sonic clenched a fist, face vibrant with the fires of determination. "I'm going to make this right."

"See, that's exactly the kind of thing you shouldn't say aloud. You don't _know _if you can make it right."

The blue blur grinned. "Watch me."

Some things never changed. Sonic would be Sonic and Knuckles would be Knuckles. It was all they could do now to work together despite their differences.

As they caught up, Lucas shot them both a peculiar look. "You guys are like siblings," he pointed out, "but not in the good way."

"Oh for Chaos's sake…" Knuckles muttered under his breath, looking disgusted. "Siblings."

"Speaking of Chaos, I'd wanted to ask something," Lucas said idly, facing forward again. "Sonic… what's it like using the Chaos Emeralds? I mean, we spend a lot of time talking about those things, but you've never told me about actually using them. Is it weird?"

"You know," Sonic said thoughtfully, "I've never really given it much thought. I guess if I had to describe it, it's like those moments where something so epic happens that you get chills up your arms. Know what I'm talking about?"

"Yeah."

"It's kind of like that sensation, 'cept really, really warm."

"Does it hurt?"

"Nah, not at all. Think hot shower warm."

"Curious choice of analogy, for you," Knuckles chimed in with a snort. "Do you even know what a hot shower feels like?"

Sonic gave him a haha-funny look, crossing his arms even as they walked. "Yes I do, thankyouverymuch. You, on the other hand, live on an ancient shrine with no nearby facilities. Do _you _know what a hot shower feels like?"

"Actually, Sonic, I wash at the river." He gave the hedgehog a sidelong glance. "Top that."

Sonic's scowl was somewhat more genuine now, though not entirely as he let his arms fall to his sides and mumbled, "…I'm faster than you."

xxx

"_Smooth move, Knucklehead." –Sonic, Sonic Adventure_

xxx

_Next chapter: June 23rd. It's the blue blur's big day, as far as we're concerned. It's only fitting that what follows is a big chapter. What will their journey down the spirals bring? Where does everything go from here?_

xxx

Poor Sonic, surrounded by everyone who picks on him now. :P And alas, Knuckles is back in the picture, for real this time. There's more where that came from – we're way overdue, after all, so his time to shine is a' comin'.

Until next time! :)


	32. Chapter 31: The More Things Change

Somebody that you used to know: Somebody I used to know, hm? I must say, I'm curious who! I might remember ya. Would you tell me? :) At any rate, thanks for your comments! Characterization is of utmost importance to me in a story, so that's good to hear. Heh, Sonic and Knuckles certainly do have a peculiar love-hate relationship, don't they? But I agree with you and think they have a brotherly friendship of sorts under all the rivalry. I like those moments too, and now that Knuckles is in the big picture again there will be more opportunities for that. ;) Thanks again, and I hope you like the update!

DanceDream: Hey, no worries! Means a lot to me either way. I totally understand that feeling, heh. Sounds like your time management skills are still way better than mine. XD Oh, I like the way you look at that little moment between Sonic and Espio. It's very true that Sonic doesn't hold grudges or have a lot of envy toward others, even despite situations that are so ironically… bad. XD Also, in fact, I agree with what you say about Sonic's humor not being a defense. By and large I actually do not see it that way either; I think Sonic's humor and optimism is very genuine! But at the same time, I think even he does get a bit defensive every once in a while. Heh, Generations had awesome City Escape remixes, I agree. And glad you enjoyed that little part, 's what it was there for! :)

Yeah, Knux was a bit of a grump. I guess being surrounded by grumps will do that to ya…? XD Give him time though, there's a lot more to him being a big name in this story again than this initial bitterness. ;) Heh, glad you liked that fight and didn't take it too seriously! The way I see it, those two just… _do _that now and then! XD Gotta let off some steam and stuff! And as far as what you said after that… I can't blame you, that scene wasn't exactly a day at the beach. And, I don't think it's weird to be proud of him. Not at all, in fact. I suppose I am too (now, is it weird for ME to say that? xD) and I'm glad you said what you did. That's our Sonic! :) Ah, yeah? I like to draw too, and that is a heartwarming mental image, that part you mentioned. Heh, now you need an FFN account and a deviantart account. ;P Y' know, I imagine that positive and negative energy would feel quite different even when if it were to be deliberately used like that. At least, in my canon they would. ;) Thanks a lot for commenting, DanceDream! I appreciate it very much. Good luck with all the stuff you've got going on, too.

x

You know, this story certainly doesn't feel like it's been around a year. O_o It'll be long since finished by this time next year, but for the time being there is still quite the ride left. Enjoy the new chapter, and of course, happy 21st to the blue blur! :)

CHAPTER 31: THE MORE THINGS CHANGE

"Do you hear a humming noise?" Knuckles asked as they rounded the second-to-last spiral. He, Sonic, Espio, Lucas and Amber were bringing up the rear of the crowd leaving Meka Tower. They could hear cheers from people up ahead who had realized they were on the bottom floor and could exit the prison. But Knuckles had heard something distinctly different.

"It's never a good sign when someone asks that question," Espio said, and simultaneously, the group turned around.

Approaching them, unsurprisingly, was an attack squad of about a dozen of the tall black robots they had all been forced to know so well. Red and violet light glinted off their exteriors as they rushed towards them with focused blue eyes. Immediately, Sonic shifted himself forward, in front of everyone else.

"Sonic, it's too many for such a small area," Amber whispered, reaching out and lightly touching his shoulder as if to hold him back.

"She's right," Espio said. "There is no room to fight this many of them. And you and I are still recovering. We should at least get out of the tower first."

"It'll take at least another few minutes to get around the last spiral," Sonic protested, "and these guys'll hurt the other prisoners if we try to crowd through and leave 'em behind! What choice do we have?"

"I'll fight them," Knuckles said determinedly, cracking his namesakes. "You all go on ahead. I'll catch up when—"

"They'll be after you the most because you're the true guardian of the Master Emerald," Espio warned. "And you're not quick enough to evade them like Sonic is. You'll get yourself captured again."

"You're underestimating my strength! I can take them—"

"You constantly make light of Sonic's impulsiveness. You would make a hypocrite of yourself now?"

Knuckles stood there with a conflicted look on his face.

"Forget this, they're getting too close!" Sonic snapped, and started forward to throw himself at the large cluster of enemies. Having fully expected the motion, Lucas reached out at the last second and grasped his arm, doing what Amber and Espio wouldn't, yanking him back forcefully before he could even build up momentum.

"Stop it, Sonic."

"What are you _doing?_"

"Let me stall them so you can get out of the tower. Then you'll be able to fight the rest out in the open without having to worry as much about recapture."

"But—"

"Just do it. I'm not leaving until you and the others are in the clear," the man said with finality. "They're after you, not me; I'll be fine. All I'm doing is buying some time. I'll pull open cell doors on both sides; they'll almost block the path, and slow these guys down." Sonic looked up at him with incredulous impatience but Lucas held fast. "Listen to me for once! Get out of here. I'm tired of you always having to take the hit for everyone."

"Eh, hang around a few years, you'll get used to it."

"Dear Chaos… just _go, _Sonic!"

Sonic looked from Lucas to everyone else to the androids almost helplessly. Then Knuckles made his decision for him, grasping him around the wrist and pulling him towards the crowd. "Let's listen to him. It'll work out better this way."

"Okay, okay! I'll be back," he called, turning his head back to Lucas as they ran. The hedgehog was still indecisive even has he was being pulled around the bend. He was almost relieved Knuckles had taken the initiative this time. He wouldn't have done so himself. Not in this situation. Not if it meant leaving a friend behind.

He saw upon looking that Lucas wasn't the only one who had stayed, either.

"Amber…?"

"I'll help him," she said quickly, looking more certain of herself than he had ever seen her. She took hold of Lucas's wrist and started in the opposite direction up the hall. They got as close as they dared before making obstacles out of the gates. The screeched tightly along the floor. Like Lucas had suggested, the opposites almost touched each other when pulled open wide. Sonic smiled and turned around, finally following Knuckles and Espio, and didn't look back.

They would be fine.

"Come on, come on," Knuckles said, gently pushing the people in front of them forward. "We're in a hurry here." Over the collection of whispers from the crowd, he heard Lucas and Amber going about their part. It would help, but it was not going to work for very long… "_MOVE!_" Knuckles roared, making everyone in the vicinity jump. "Sonic the hedgehog needs to get through!"

There was a perceptible shift in speed as people started going faster, stumbling over each other's feet. They could see the light of day now, filtering in between people's heads, making silhouettes out of all of them. They were almost there…

"Didn't think you'd play that card, Knux." Sonic cocked an eyebrow and grinned.

"Don't get used to it."

As they inched ever closer to the exit, the hallway became more and more vibrant. Despite the bright lights in the place, nothing could compare to the sunlight outside. Sonic had almost forgotten what brightness really looked like. He had not seen daylight in two and a half months.

The curve straightened into a ramp that led outside. Sonic's heart was pounding as they finally finished rounding the bend, letting the frame come into full view unhindered by the angle of the floor, wall or ceiling. Sand was making swirls in the air, the wind depositing some of it onto the ramp that led outside. There were bumps of sand dunes for miles and miles, rolling gently, carefree. The sky was as blue as him. Only brighter.

But in spite of everything, the gorgeous view was not what Sonic's eyes settled on first.

Sonic's eyes settled on something off in the distance coming towards them, emitting a much different kind of humming noise than the androids had a minute ago… one he hadn't heard since the last time he had been in the Mystic Ruins. It was the only thing disturbing the smooth color of the sky; there was not a cloud in sight.

He nearly tripped as he stumbled off the ramp and onto the sandy earth. Grains swallowed his shoes and trickled into his socks, but he didn't care. In fact, if his eyes and mind weren't so firmly set on the thing descending from the sky, he might have appreciated the sensation.

The Tornado landed inside the fence, on the largest hill in the area, digging its nose halfway into it. As if that was his cue, Sonic _ran_, blowing sand onto all the former-prisoners within ten yards of his path. The hot wind pulled against his quills and fur. His glove cuffs and socks rippled with the force of his speed, flapping against his skin. It was incredible.

As he reached the Tornado mere seconds later, a wave of those epic chills he had used in his analogy earlier finished their journey up his back, and he had to wipe a mixture of sand and tears out of his eyes before coming to a halt.

Tails and Amy climbed out of the biplane. Sonic could tell just by their body language that they hadn't seen him yet. They had both known his cell was reinforced. To this very moment, they had no idea he had been freed. He smiled, more than happy just to watch them exist obliviously before him.

He could pinpoint the exact second Tails saw him standing there. Eyes as blue as the sky above latched onto his own, suddenly wide with stark disbelief. All movement ceased. It was like the world had come to a halt just for the moment to occur.

Then, slowly, expression not changing, Tails walked forward and fell into his brother's open arms.

Sonic held him tenderly, staring far beyond where they stood without really seeing anything, clutching warm, golden fur beneath his hands. Tails leaned into the embrace like he would never leave. Neither of them uttered a word; words would have been superfluous.

It had been so long. Tails almost couldn't believe he was seeing his brother again for the first time in months, almost couldn't believe it wasn't some wishful dream. It had seemed way longer than mere months, for everything that had happened. Nothing was the same as it had been before Sonic had run off to find Chaos Emeralds that day.

Sonic had missed the world. Running. Freedom. Exploration. The endless sky. Only now, though, did he realize how much he had missed the people in that world of his, the ones who had been there all along. "I missed you the most," he whispered, his warm breath flicking the fur on Tails's ear. He felt the fox bounce once against him with an inaudible chuckle.

Finally Sonic eased him away, holding him by the shoulders.

They had spoken a few times throughout the ordeal, but in earnest, the only time they had really gotten the chance to catch up was a month ago when Espio had first let Sonic borrow his communicator. As such, Tails looked up at the blue blur with uncertainty seeping into the slight smile on his face. It was like there was a slight barrier between them, not because of either of the two, but because of everything that had happened while they were apart.

There was so much still in the dark. So much Sonic didn't know about Tails's experiences. So much Tails didn't know about Sonic's experiences. So many people they had _both_ befriended and become close with… during the time they would normally have been with each other. So much that could have changed in that large gap of mystery.

And the little that Tails did know had frightened him like nothing else before it. The oppression. The horrors. The sheer length of time stripped from Sonic and the other individuals stuffed away in the remote tower. His voice was a tender, shy whisper as he finally asked, "How'd it go in there, Sonic?"

"Just fine," Sonic answered just as softly, never looking away. "Just fine."

He felt the fox's shoulders relax beneath his hands. Unshed tears coated his blue eyes as he hugged Sonic again and said in a wobbly voice, "I'm so glad you're okay. The last time I saw you was… before _all _of this. That day we test-flew the Tornado, found an Emerald at the pond. Y-you know, that day, I never – _ever_ thought when you ran off that so much would happen before I saw you again…"

"I know. Everything's going to be fine," Sonic assured him, dispelling the fox's very fears with those simple words, dissipating whatever barrier of obscurity might have been between them. Immediately Tails knew that no one could take either of their places as brothers and best friends, no matter how long they were apart and no matter how many other people they got to know. And the trials they had endured would have no negative bearing on their friendship; their struggles and their vulnerabilities could only bring them closer together. "I'm still me," Sonic said to him with gentle assurance and confidence, "and you're still you. A lot has happened, and things have changed… but not _that_ much. We're still Sonic and Tails. I promise you that, bro. I promise."

Tails couldn't hold back the tears any longer, could barely even function beyond the stammering of a few joyful words. "I-I promise too, Sonic. That's never gonna change." It was at this point that letting go would have seemed the normal thing to do, but Tails only held tighter. "And please…" he continued, very quietly, "please, just stop getting hurt! You could have avoided being captured if you were careful. And even after that, in the tower, you could have… you could have…" he cut off. He knew what he wanted to say – _could have left the scanners alone, could have not rebelled, could have complied with Eggman, could have gotten out of the tower the second he escaped the cell – _and so many other what-ifs. But he couldn't bring himself to shape the words, couldn't bring himself to discount or discourage his friend's efforts like that. Instead, he amended his statement to one of loving sincerity. "I know that you… I know that you were just doing the right thing. But that's… that's _enough_."

The fox knew, even though he had chosen his words better now – knew that Sonic would not promise him anything. He led an unpredictable, risky life, and one that a lot of people happened to depend on. One that posed a lot of threats, some larger than others. So many times, Sonic had taken the hard path where he could have taken the easy one. He was selfless, too destructively selfless to agree with such a request.

At least, that was what Tails thought, until Sonic wordlessly nodded in their embrace. It wasn't a promise. But it was a silent concurrence, a silent mutual expression that all he had been through on this adventure had indeed been… enough.

"Tails," he whispered. "You be careful too, okay, Tails? I gotta say that. Just in case I'm ever… not around to say it, like I wasn't for the last few months. You're like me, buddy, you know that? Just look at how much you've gotten yourself into these days, snagging the Master Emerald and getting yourself beat up by Imposter. So you gotta take care of yourself, too. Can you do that for me?"

"My answer's the same as yours," Tails said to his older brother. "I'll try my best. But I won't ever give up."

Sonic smiled down at him. "It's good to see ya again, bud."

"I-It's good to see you too, Sonic."

They were two friends, sticking together and holding tight in the midst of stormy chaos and uncertainty. Their brotherhood had always, always endured. And now, no more reassurance was needed. If they could reunite as if nothing had ever changed, _now_, after everything they had been through without each other… then they always would.

When they separated again, Amy had reached them, and was standing there struggling not to cry. Sonic turned to face her, and she stifled one quiet sob before stumbling towards him. "Y-you better hug me back," she wailed… and Sonic did. He wrapped his arms around her without reservation and held her tightly. She had one arm on his back below his quills, and the other behind his head as she buried her face in his chest. Sonic patted her back a few times, comforting her as best he could.

"You really helped me that one night, you know," the hedgehog said in her ear. "With the negative Chaos energy…"

But it was far more than that, and even Sonic knew so. She had helped him so much, offered support in her actions, words, and spirit. She had not been afraid to put herself forth and fight back against Eggman without him. She had stayed with Tails all this time in his absence, and been the fox's friend. All that had happened had taught her so much more than she had known before, and so she had come into her own to make a strong effort… for everyone. Not just for Sonic. For the people they were trying to save. For Tails. For Espio. For herself.

He could not take her for granted any longer.

Amy nodded against him. "I hoped so. I'd do anything for you, Sonic." She met his eyes with compassion and bashfulness. "I… I love you."

"I love you too, Amy," he murmured, smiling and patting her gently. Stunned, she backed away and kept looking at him, hopefulness sneaking into her expression.

"C-can I give you a kiss?"

In the midst of the warm reunion, Sonic had just said what felt right to say. Now he realized just how those words sounded to her – a bit more than the firm friendship he wanted to view them as – and looked away sheepishly. "W-Well, I don't know if I meant it like…" Sonic shrugged and smiled. "Okay. Just this once."

She giggled, then closed her eyes and planted the gentlest of kisses on his cheek, lingering there for a silent moment before pulling away to look at him again. "There," she said, teal eyes gleaming brightly. "Was that so bad?"

Sonic chuckled awkwardly and shrugged. How did you respond to a question like that? Looking satisfied enough, though, Amy chuckled and turned away, eyes still watery with joy. He realized it was a moment that she would probably never forget. Well, that was okay with him. Right now, he didn't – and probably couldn't – see her the way she saw him. But he still wanted her to be happy.

"_Espio!_" Tails exclaimed suddenly, ears perking up as he saw Espio and Knuckles catching up. Laughing once in disbelief, he threw himself down the sand dune and hugged the chameleon with vigor. "You made it! I was worried about you!"

Espio, for his part, patted the fox's back twice and grunted awkwardly. Nearby, Knuckles crossed his arms and was just about to clear his throat loudly when Tails pulled away from Espio and threw his arms around the guardian instead.

"Knuckles… you're free too! I don't even know how you guys got out, but… It doesn't even matter! I'm so happy everyone's in one place now! This is great, you guys!"

"Ehehe," Knuckles contributed, returning the hug in kind. "It's good to see you too, kid. If it wasn't for you nobody would have realized I was trapped in there too."

"Amy helped too," Tails said. "I always knew the Chaos Emeralds were safe, thanks to her. I… can't believe how well it worked, actually."

"So the question now," Espio began, "is what do we do from here? There's still the matter of this fence. Everyone is free, but they're not _really_ free."

Sonic scratched his chin. "Hmm… guess we'll just have to figure out a way to tear it down."

"What about us?" Tails asked. "I mean… is this it? Get rid of the fence and that's the end? It seems too… too…"

"Easy?" Knuckles offered. "It is. There's still that imposter of me out there. We have to figure out what his purpose is. And after that, I'll be the one to tear him apart."

"First things first," Sonic said, turning to Tails and Amy with an unreadable expression. "…The Master Emerald?"

"Oh!" Tails exclaimed, realizing what Sonic thought. "It's in the secret area, but it's locked behind a password door I made, so don't worry. I just…" he trailed off momentarily, playing with his fingers. "We had wanted to help Espio. I know we weren't supposed to come, but..."

"Not a problem," the chameleon said with a smile, appearing to appreciate his young comrade's bravery even though it hadn't been needed in the end. "I only wanted to keep you from coming inside the tower. The Master Emerald is not of my concern. But since you created that door, it should be all right anyway."

"At any rate, we should get it," Sonic said. "I'm sure Knuckles wants to have it in his possession again, and quite frankly I'd feel more comfortable that way, too."

Knuckles nodded. "Damn straight. Sonic and Tails and I should get on the Tornado and do that as soon as we can. Espio, since you have a communicator, you can hold the fort here and let Tails know if anything interesting happens."

"Okay," Espio said. "You're right. We're not on safe ground until we can somehow get past this fence."

Sonic raised a finger and drew a breath, but never got a chance to say whatever it was he had been about to say.

"_SONIC!_" a breathless voice shouted from a distance, interrupting the reunion and planning with a tone of horrified urgency. Sonic felt his quills stiffen as he whirred around to see Amber running towards him. "Th-they started dragging Lucas away. Got past the doors. Said they'd get back to you once they took care of him. They – they wouldn't leave me alone until I was outside the prison. I _had _to get out. I tried, I tried. I'm… I'm so sorry. I don't know what to do!"

As soon as she stopped talking, Sonic was off. Knuckles ran after him. They would need to fight… and he was the best fighter they had. They couldn't wait for convenient circumstances anymore; not if Lucas was in danger. They would just have to fight off the robots from inside Meka Tower as best as they could.

"And just after we escaped this joint," Sonic muttered. "Knux… I hope this goes well."

Knuckles knew what he meant. If the robots got a hold of Sonic, they would lock him away again. The day he had been captured, he had faced two robots and hadn't known how to fight them at the time. Now he knew somewhat better, but now there were twelve of them.

He had had no qualms fighting the androids in the control room with Espio, but those ones had been set to attack, not capture. Sonic was used to attacks, used to regular fighting, and even against such stellar odds like that, had thrown himself in there without reluctance. But this was different. Before, they hadn't been free. Now they were. Now there was something to lose again.

Knuckles realized that if things did go wrong, he would share Sonic's fate, right after they had escaped it. He steeled himself and kept running. They would succeed. They had to.

They went up the ramp, feet clanking against the ground and leaving a trail of sand. Meka Tower looked quite dark as they entered its mouth once again. Darker, Knuckles thought, than it ever had before, simply because they'd just had daylight to compare it to.

There was noise coming from one of the hallways branching off the spiral; the sound of struggle. A male voice grunted and groaned in effort. Metal limbs smacked the floor and scratched against the walls.

Sonic and Knuckles rounded the corner just in time to see one of the androids lash out – hard. There was a sickening crack… but with Lucas drowning in the sea of robots, they couldn't tell if it was his hand or his neck.

There was a second's delay; the instant between heartbeats that it took for sensation to register. Lucas screamed in mortal agony before his voice cut sharply to silence.

xxx

_"That's why we gotta live life to the fullest in the time we have. At least, that's what I figure." –Sonic, Black Knight_

xxx

Well, no point in previewing the next chapter this time.~ Hope you didn't put it beyond me to have the crap hit the fan a bit even on a day like this. XD Unfortunately it's just how things happened… :/ Though of course the part worth celebrating is that they have all reunited.

…Especially Sonic and Tails. :3 I missed seeing them together so far in this story.

Thanks for reading, guys. Hope everyone has a good day. Let me know what you thought? :) Also, I might upload something else later on today. Not entirely sure yet, but working on it.~


	33. Chapter 32: Mysteries Unveiled

Somebody that you used to know: Ah, I see. Yep, I remember that name. :) It was making me curious not knowing, lol! Thanks for your comments and support, and I hope you enjoy the update! Glad you're excited.

The Cinderninja: Heya Dash. I don't feel like finding your profile just like you didn't feel like logging in. xP So I am just gonna respond here while I'm at it since you reviewed anon. Thanks very much, it's a lot of my favorite things as well. Heh, glad the chapter made you squee. x'D Oh yeah, Amy's definitely grown up a fair bit and I appreciate you noticing how that led up to this. :) Lol, alternatively I _am _the type of person that dies at cliffhangers, and feel as though I'm never going to find out. I hate being stuck on one myself unless I can read on immediately, but I love leaving other people with them.. xD Thanks again!

DanceDream: I'm getting an impression of unanimity about the new review system. Everyone says they don't like it, and I don't care for it either. xD Personally I like being able to have a separate window for reviews in case there's things I wanna say mid-chapter, that way I don't have to keep scrolling down and trying not to spoil the end. X_x What can ya do. Anyway, thanks very much for your review. Aww, glad it made you cry (as long as it was in a good way! xD). Oh yes, it's been so long, hasn't it? Sonic deserved that little run! And I'm happy to hear you really liked the reunion scene, that means a lot to me. Heh, ironically, just saying you can't quote enough gives me a good impression of what you mean. Thanks for what you said about that part. :) Ahh, you a SonAmy fan? Glad you liked. I try to keep close to canon (very mild romance if any) but figured that part wouldn't hurt considering the circumstances and the way it was meant. And LOL about Knuckles, I think you indeed have said that before! "I don't get any respect, no respect at all." Loool. XD Yeah, I agree, Sonic'll be making wisecracks to his grave… or beyond, as you suggest. XDD I lol'd. Also, that's awesome that you've been writing. Hope it's going well for ya. :) Sure thing about the church group; done and done. :D Good luck with all of that. And thanks once again for your comments!

x

[Edit 7/24/2012: chapter revised to make one scene a little smoother and more believable. It probably needed it. ;) They're minor changes since there are related plot points that I don't want to mess too much with. So, not perfect, but I think it is better than the previous version.]

Hey all, thanks for the massive support thus far especially with that last chapter! So happy and honored that this story even means a portion to some of you of what it means to me. I'm having fun and looking forward to the big stuff in store as we go into the last 10 or so chapters. Can't tell anymore if that sounds like a lot or not. xD

Oh oh oh. I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but I've been meaning to. Odd time to think of it, but – Kai's name, in one of its supposed origins, means 'keeper of the key.' It's why that's his name. :) Not EXACTLY accurate, per se, since he really just managed to snag it from the androids, but about as close of a fit as his name could get nonetheless. Just a little tidbit of info out-of-universe.

Enjoy!

CHAPTER 32: MYSTERIES UNVEILED

Sonic and Knuckles rounded the corner just in time to see one of the androids lash out – hard. There was a sickening crack… but with Lucas drowning in the sea of robots, they couldn't tell if it was his hand or his neck.

There was a second's delay; the instant between heartbeats that it took for the feeling to register. Then Lucas screamed in mortal agony.

"_Lucas!_" Sonic cried, accelerating down the hallway, Knuckles close at his heels.

"Sonic, don't go crazy!" the echidna warned. "You'll get us captured again!"

The hedgehog ignored him and launched himself at one of the androids whose back was facing them. It had a firm grasp on Lucas and did not let go in time to stop Sonic's attack. He curled up and rammed into its head with his spikes. Next to him, Knuckles destroyed another one with his powerful fists just as it made to turn around.

Lucas fell to the ground and didn't get up.

"Get him out of the way, get him out of the way!" Knuckles said, breaking off another android's arm as it reached out to grab him. Electricity sizzled from its empty shoulder socket throughout the rest of its body, and it blew up. The echidna guarded his face with the opposite hand but didn't leap away, bearing the explosion with toughness that was more mental than physical, then used the arm he had torn to smash yet another of the black robots.

Meanwhile, Sonic had grabbed Lucas by both arms and dragged him away from the scene as quickly as he could while still being gentle, hoping he didn't somehow make his friend's injury even worse. Then he hopped over his limp body defensively and put himself back into the fight.

"You don't get to have all the fun, Knuckles," Sonic growled, his fury directed at the androids who had dared to harm Lucas. "Save some for me."

He let himself get close enough for one of them to reach out towards him predictably, then ducked and kicked it between the legs. It whined in a way he had never quite heard from any robot before and fell to the ground anticlimactically. Sonic blinked.

"Wait, so, Eggman…" he stammered. "Why in the world would he give them sensory receptors _there_?"

"Why in the world would you _check?_ AGH!" Knuckles smacked the ground with his hands, just barely breaking his fall. Before he could get back up, the android who had pushed him pressed a foot into his back, pinning him there. Immediately, Sonic dove for it, but it saw him coming and swiped him away with a carelessly powerful hand, sending him into the opposite wall.

"Take care of _yourself_," Knuckles said with a grunt. Sonic saw that he was doing a pushup, making space between himself and the ground even as the android's foot pushed down against his back. When he finally got enough leverage, he brought his feet beneath him for stability and then lifted himself up, reaching behind him and grasping the foot on his back. He swung it over his head, slamming the entire body of the android down, and catching another in its trajectory.

"Okay, even _I've _gotta admit that was sweet, Knuckles." Sonic gave him a thumbs-up. He didn't see the robot quickly coming at him from the side. It wrapped its cold fingers around the hedgehog's still-extended arm and twisted him around with it, holding it against back and pulling him near for leverage.

"Target one secured. Someone please disable this rat so we can take him to Master without problems, will you?"

"_Rat?_"

"Damn it!" Knuckles snapped, hearing the mal-intentioned request. "I'm coming, Sonic!"

"Take care of y—" Sonic began to say with a sarcastic grin, but was cut short as another android kicked him hard in the stomach with its solid, heavy foot. Still tender there from the earlier fight, Sonic let out a heavy yelp of pain.

Knuckles winced, realizing he was part of the reason that strike hurt Sonic as much as it did. "Hang in there!" he called, fighting his way to Sonic and the android, defeating another two on the way. There were only three left now, but the robots weren't the only ones getting weaker…

The robot made to kick Sonic again. At the last second, Sonic managed to turn enough to grab onto the foot with his free hand as it made contact, tightening his stomach as much as he could to take the blow. It didn't prevent the brief agony rippling through his ribs, but it at least beat being knocked breathless. He clung tight to the foot, and as the robot reflexively pulled back, it pulled him free too. As soon as it realized it had helped the enemy, it whipped its foot into the wall behind it, causing Sonic to let go and crumple to the ground.

Knuckles finally made it to the robot that had tried to hold Sonic in place. With its attention still focused on the blue blur, Knuckles had the perfect opportunity to rip its head off – and he did, with his innate strength, even going as far as to throw it down the hallway like a ball. "And that's the last one you'll be hurting today!" he snarled viciously.

The one in question was peeling himself off the ground, a big mark already appearing where he had been kicked. There wasn't fur on that area of his torso to keep it from showing, and show it did. Upon seeing it, Knuckles groaned for his sake and made to approach him. "Stay down, hedgehog. Let me handle the last two."

Sonic reached out and pulled himself up by the hand of the unsuspecting echidna, who nearly stumbled in an attempt to keep his balance.

"You're funny, Knux," Sonic said, before making a beeline for one of the remaining humanoids, looking like he wasn't even hurt.

In the brief instant that Knuckles spent watching him take off, the _other _android came up from behind him and whacked him in the head. Everything went black briefly. He turned around to return the strike, but was met with another one before his fist reached its destination. A plethora of colors joined in with the purple hue of the hallway now, mixing up in his vision. He tried to see past it to attack the android. It was a small triumph to finally feel his tight fist collide destructively with metal. He withdrew and repeated again, feeling the robot still striking him too, neither of them down for the count yet.

When his vision finally righted itself, the robot was little more than a pile of dented metal before him. He backed away from it, anticipating the explosion, and ran into Sonic, who had defeated his robot at the same time and was backing away too.

Both droids exploded simultaneously, and then all was silent.

All except for Lucas.

Sonic ran through the smoke and debris, back toward the outer spiral where he had left the man. He hoped the sounds he was making were good signs, but they sounded more and more grim with every step he took. Even with his speed it seemed to take way too long to reach him. When he finally did, he dropped to one knee and gave Lucas's shoulder a gentle shake. "Hey… you okay?"

Lucas winced and squeezed his eyes shut tight, so Sonic quickly backed off. He was making quiet, breathy noises that were worse than screams to the hedgehog's ears. He wished he knew what was wrong.

"I know it hurts, we've all been there," Sonic said desperately. "Talk to me, Lucas. Are you okay?"

"_Ow…_"

"Well said."

Lucas smiled, which was exactly what Sonic had been after. It was a huge relief. The man continued to look up at him, trying to shape his voice into something understandable through the strained groans he couldn't quite suppress. "D… Did you… stop the androids?"

"Yeah, yeah, you bet we stopped 'em," Sonic said.

"Good… good…" Lucas's face contorted as if he was enduring a spasm of agony, and he held his breath. Sonic looked about him, trying to find what was wrong. There was blood soaking through one pant leg. He hoped that was all that had gotten hurt. But the way he had screamed…

"What'd they do to you? Lucas…?"

Knuckles approached behind them. "Sonic, let me lift him up. We need to get outside again. It's not safe in here."

"We shouldn't have done things this way," Sonic said as Knuckles lifted the man, making him moan loudly. It was still a more gentle motion than Sonic had known Knuckles to be capable of. "It should've been me. I'm sorry…"

From beneath eyebrows hooded with pain, Lucas's dark green eyes managed to reach Sonic's. There was irony in his pained gaze, and he was trying to make a slight smile out of it, but it wasn't working. "'S just what… 's just what I tried to say to you after Eggman had you waterboarded," he said to the hedgehog, "and even then you wouldn't hear it… so don't think that apologetic bullshit is gonna work on me any better. Besides, Sonic, we agreed we'd both be ready… t' handle whatever happened…"

"…No matter what," Sonic finished, recalling his own words from conversations before. He smiled down at Lucas encouragingly as they left the tower, even though as they stepped out into sunlight again, the mood was much more threatening and tense than it had been the first time they left. "That's right," he said. "We're still ready, aren't we?"

"Y-you bet. And q-quit looking at me like that, both of you…" He paused for a moment, then said what both of them had hoped for but not dared to expect. "It's just my leg… I'll survive."

Sonic watched as Knuckles carefully set Lucas down in the sand. With the high fence still there, it wasn't like they could go to a hospital. By the expression on Knuckles's face, Sonic thought he might have appreciated that opportunity as well; he looked lightheaded and in pain. The guardian had gotten hit in the head more than once. He walked several paces away, not wanting to show his own weakness, and sat down in the sand as well.

Sonic turned momentarily back to Lucas, figuring his situation was more severe, but not really knowing what to do about it. "Are you sure that's all?" he asked, nodding his head at Lucas's leg. The man was holding it, applying pressure to stop the bleeding. "You really didn't seem… I mean…"

"It just… unh… hurts more than anything. But yeah… it's just my leg."

"Coulda gotten that straightened out a little sooner. Like, five minutes ago when it happened." Sonic's relief didn't quite cover up the fear in his voice. He took a breath, then resigned himself to a gentle smile. "…Good to know. I mean, not that you're in pain, but that you're, y' know, not going to die on us all dramatic and stuff."

Lucas gave a strained laugh. "You just can't get rid of me, can you?"

"No, guess not. You're like a leech or something."

"Th-that was _my _line."

"Yeah, whatever." Sonic grinned, then turned briefly to regard Knuckles, who was getting back up already. "How about you? You okay?"

"Relax, hedgehog." Knuckles gave a small smile. "You act like we're made out of glass. He got it worse than I did, anyway."

Sonic nodded. "What do we do now?" he wondered honestly, for once at a complete loss. "I don't know who can help him, and… even if it's just his leg, he's bleeding a lot."

"Let me have a few moments more to recover," said the guardian tiredly. "There might be something I can do to help, but… I need to be able to focus." He closed his eyes and continued honestly, "Even then it would might be a long shot."

While Sonic didn't look thrilled about the 'few moments' part, he nodded, happy to know there was at least _some _small chance Lucas could be helped. The injury didn't seem fatal right now, but without help, he would simply lose more blood. Sonic wanted to look at the man's leg, see how bad the damage was, but then realized solemnly that there was no point. Looking wouldn't change anything.

They both stood there on the brink of anxiousness while Lucas, behind them, laid in quiet suffering. Sonic thought again about the hospital notion. If they could get Lucas to the Tornado, and get out of these sand dunes… If Lucas could even handle the ride…

"Knuckles?"

"Yeah."

"How far are we from everything? I mean… do we even know where we are right now?"

The echidna looked at him blankly. "Why would I know any better than you?"

That was a good point. Knuckles was on Angel Island most of the time. If anyone who had been trapped would know where they were, it would be an explorer like Sonic. Realizing this himself, the blue blur thought aloud. "Well, I was in a sandy area when Eggman's robots first captured me," he said. "And from what I've heard, they tend to stay pretty local." He took another gander around, seeing the dunes in a new light, trying to find familiarity in them. "This… this could be the same area!"

"So…" Knuckles dragged out the word to make it clear he wasn't grasping the significance. "What's that mean?"

"It means… if I'm thinking of this right, the Mystic Ruins are a little ways beyond the dunes in one direction… Station Square not far from there… and the ocean in the opposite direction, probably a little ways beyond Meka Tower." He met his friend's eyes again. "Eggman had the tower built here so he'd be near as many different sources as he could, while at the same time keeping himself from being noticeable."

"Still," Knuckles said, "we'd have to either go back to Tails and have him bring the Tornado here, or carry Lucas over there. I know they're not far, but… right now I think it's best he be still. That way I can at least _try _my idea."

"Okay, bud. If you think that's best."

Idly, the echidna gazed off at where Sonic had guessed the ocean was, thinking about something. "What in the world were you doing out here, anyway, Sonic?"

"Hm?"

"When you were first captured," Knuckles clarified. He met Sonic's eyes. "I can't imagine you were in a place like this just for a run." Without looking away, he pointed with a thumb down to Sonic's feet. The deeper parts of the sand went up to his socks. He could run in it, but it wasn't the most comfortable place for it.

Knuckles hadn't pointed out any of that, but he didn't need to. Knowing exactly what he meant, Sonic sighed. "I was looking for Chaos Emeralds," he said, "to try and get ahead of the game. Tails and I had found one, and that's when I decided to find more. We tracked the nearest signal so I could chase it down, and Tails kept the Emerald to work on his radar." He gazed off, face unreadable. "Turns out Eggman had wanted to get ahead of the game too. The Chaos Emerald we had tracked was the one in Meka Tower. He'd already found it. I think it was the only one he had at the time."

"And what, you thought you'd just wander on in there and get it?" The guardian asked. Sonic wanted to defend himself and say he hadn't _known _of Meka Tower's existence at the time, and hadn't even gotten close to it before Eggman's androids found him and knocked him out. But Knuckles continued without waiting. "Just stroll in like you owned the place. Didn't bother to get help, didn't think anything of it?"

Sonic heard the echidna's earlier tone resurfacing. "Yeah, that's right," he responded jokingly, voice comparably lighthearted as he tried to keep this argument from coming up again. "I wanted to just move right into the place. Figured someone made it nice and spacious just for a guy like me."

"Stop that."

"What?" The blue blur smiled innocently. "You're grinning."

"I am not grinning," Knuckles said, grinning.

"Are too."

"Only because it's funny how you think you're so hilarious."

"Want me to be hilarious about your pet rock instead?" Sonic asked. "I have plenty of wit to go 'round."

"No, you've done that enough too." Knuckles crossed his arms, not making eye contact. His violet eyes were downcast and angry. "Besides, that's not funny. It's not just some _rock._ We're still in a lot of danger, and it's crucial that we have the Master Emerald."

"Never said it was funny," Sonic said, smile diminishing slightly. "Never said any of this was funny."

"…I know." Knuckles closed his eyes, finally feeling that Sonic agreed with him about something, though he wished neither of them had to feel the way they did. "I know.

"Lucas!" Amber called, catching up to where they were. She was closely followed by the others. Sonic and Knuckles whirred around. They could see the Tornado in the distance, but the sand was thick and deep, taking a long time to walk through. Still, Amber was running at a pace even Sonic could respect as she finished her approach to Lucas. "Oh no… wh-what's happened…?"

"I-I know, I know," Sonic said, redirecting his focus to what was at hand and trying to reassure the girl. "We've got to do something here. I just don't know what."

"Did you bring the Chaos Emeralds?" Knuckles asked.

"All three," Tails replied, holding them out. "Do you need them?"

"Just one. Quick!"

Tails tossed an Emerald in their direction. Sonic was closer and caught it. "I-Is he okay?" the fox asked quietly. Sonic bit his lip tentatively, but nodded.

"I'm gonna take the Tornado closer to the fence," the fox said, turning back around. "I don't feel comfortable with it as close to the tower as it is."

Sonic nodded, but had a feeling that wasn't the only thing Tails wasn't comfortable with. He, along with Amy and Espio, were keeping their distance as though they thought they would make the problem worse by being too close. None of them had expected this. So many times, they had all escaped with only minor injuries.

Still holding the Emerald, Sonic bent down towards the suffering Lucas, thinking to try and heal him with the Emerald's energy.

"Hold up," Knuckles said. "Sonic, let me do that. It's what I was going to do."

"What, heal him?"

"You've got other things to do, and you don't even have experience with the Emeralds that way." Knuckles outstretched a hand. "I'll take care of him, don't worry."

"B-because I can't take care of myself," Lucas mumbled under his breath. "Seriously, though, don't worry about me. I'll be okay."

Sonic gave both of them one last glance. Then, nodding once, he ran off to catch up with Tails, causing a sheet of sand to fall over Knuckles, Lucas and Amber.

They coughed.

"S-so… you're the better healer?" Lucas asked once the sand settled.

"Yeah. I've lived on Angel Island my whole life, right next to the Master Emerald, so I'm familiar with a lot of Chaos abilities."

"I thought Sonic was, too."

"Oh, he is," Knuckles clarified. "But he's better at powering up with Chaos energy himself than directing it at an outward source. Plus, I've just had more experiences healing people than he has, so I'm used to it."

"Who would come to a little-known island like yours to get healed?"

Knuckles nodded his head in the direction Sonic had gone. "Who do you _think_?"

"Oh. Right." Lucas's eyes crunched closed briefly. "So, uh, am I going to feel this?"

"Yup," Knuckles said simply, honestly. "Setting broken bones just hurts. But since I am healing you, I can take on some of it through the Chaos energy. It'll flow through us both as it's mending you. I'll feel a lot of what you're feeling, so I'll know if anything is going wrong. Make sense?"

"Yeah. I think so."

"Good news is, I'm pretty good at channeling that energy straight back to the Chaos Emerald as it's active, meaning it shouldn't be too bad." Knuckles reached down and rolled up Lucas's pant leg slightly, exposing most of the injury. Not wanting to cause Lucas more discomfort, he stopped there. "I'll distribute the excess to both of us, so we can share the burden, like I said. Makes things a lot quicker and easier."

"Sounds like a plan."

Knuckles closed his eyes and wrapped his mind around the Chaos Emerald's energy, focusing it, nurturing it, guiding it mentally to Lucas's injured leg. When he made the connection, they both felt it, and flinched.

"Do I… do I have to do anything to make this work?" Lucas asked in a voice strained with the high pitch of frightened anticipation. He was breathing fast.

"Nope. Try and relax a little. That helps, too."

"Doing what I can," Lucas said, eyes closed again. "This as bad as it gets?"

"It should be, overall," Knuckles said. "Might waver a little bit here and there."

Lucas exhaled a breath he had unintentionally held. "You talking about it made me think it'd be a lot worse than it actually is. Guess that's better than the other way around, though."

"Yeah."

A few minutes passed. It seemed quite a bit longer to both of them. Puffs of sand danced indifferently in the air. Bouts of wind provided sporadic relief from the unblocked sun. Other than those occasional gusts, all was silent. It was peaceful even in the midst of their discomfort. It was an environment that easily let them feel what they were feeling without intrusion or distraction.

"Hey Knuckles… my leg is still killing me. Are you sure this is working?"

"It doesn't feel better at all?" the echidna asked, looking surprised. He leaned down to take a closer look, rolling the pant leg up more, and suddenly looked horrified. "Oh no."

"What's 'oh no' mean?"

"Lucas… your shin bone… I can see it. And you're still bleeding. Oh dear Chaos, you're still bleeding. Your pants are so dark that I didn't see it that much before… I thought we'd rolled up your pants enough to see the whole injury. I didn't realize it was this bad."

"Can you… can you fix it?"

"No," Knuckles said honestly. "Sonic was right. We need to get you to a hospital. Now."

"The nearest one is back in Station Square!" Lucas said, growing frantic. "And this fence is still here!"

"Damn it," the echidna cursed. "Damn it. Hold still, hold still - we'll try to stop the bleeding…"

"Oh no..." Amber murmured shakily, sensing the sudden escalation of the situation. Both of them had forgotten she was nearby, with her being as inconspicuous as she always was. "Knuckles, is... is he going to be okay? Can I help somehow? Knuckles..."

"Shh, just stay out of my way!" the echidna snapped with unintentional anger. He quickly turned back to Lucas. "I'm afraid to move you anymore. I'm going to keep trying to heal you, make the wound a little more stable, and we'll take it by the minute. Dammit, we should have checked..."

Amber stood there dry-washing her hands for a minute before approaching closer, despite the echidna's temper, and crouched down next to them. "Here," she said, bunching up Lucas's pant leg as best as she could and pressing it hard onto the wound - over the sliver of bone. Lucas cried out and kicked, unable to deny the primal desire to avoid pain. The girl yelped as she quickly drew away. Uncertainty weighed in and Lucas and Knuckles both glared at her. Like so many times inside Meka Tower, she didn't know what to do, and was second-guessing everything. After a moment's hesitation, she met their expressions with conviction of her own - conviction that wasn't entirely confident but not entirely fake either - and leaned back down again.

"It's blood loss that would kill you first," she said. "Right? So we have to do everything we can to stop the bleeding. Just let me put a little pressure on it. I'll try my best not to hurt you..."

Knuckles looked at her with an unreadable expression. "I told you to stay out of the way," he said, "...but you're right. Now is not the time for me to try and do everything myself."

Lucas looked at her, eyes layered with pain, and nodded. Not saying anything else, Amber applied pressure to his leg, trying to slow the bleeding. It soaked through his pants, but eventually came slower than before. It wasn't enough yet for the man to be in the clear, but it was a start.

"Try to prop his leg up," Knuckles said quietly, hoarsely. "Might help."

Amber did so as gently as she could, hoisting Lucas's hurt leg up and gently letting it lay across her lap. Lucas tensed and went rigid, hissing in air through his teeth, but otherwise let her. She looked over at his face and saw his jaw clenched, and veins in his neck bulging. Almost immediately she looked away. She hadn't expected looking at his expression to be harder than looking at the wound, but the former displayed the pain more than the latter. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and tried to stop shaking.

The environment was dismally silent. Knuckles concentrated on healing while Amber continued to try and halt her friend's blood loss. Neither of them contacted the others in the group: Knuckles didn't want to break his focus lest he unwind what little progress he had made, and Amber didn't dare take her hands off the wound.

"What are you doing?" Lucas asked suddenly, quiet but alarmed. Amber's eyes were still closed. She assumed Lucas was talking to Knuckles until she heard the draw a sharp breath.

"Amber."

Now the girl's eyes snapped open. Before she could look at either of them, she saw what was in the center of her vision; Lucas's wound, beginning to form an otherworldly glow at the edges. She stared, dumbfounded, and traced the glow to her hands. It was coming from her.

"What is that?" Knuckles asked, but didn't seem to really expect an answer; he too was watching with astonishment, knowing he should be cautious, but too mesmerized by what he was watching to act upon it. "Is that... okay?"

Amber didn't respond, didn't even look at him. Something inside was resonating. A sixth sense. Perhaps something even as innate as breathing. Wordlessly, she pressed harder on Lucas's leg. It gave a crack and shifted. Lucas screamed again. Amber did too, the sensation hitting her own receptors like a knife even though nothing was happening to her body. She held her breath and pinched her bottom lip between her teeth.

"What are you doing?" Knuckles demanded, a little more insistent if only because of concern. Amber gazed somewhere past the injured leg, past the ground below it, unblinkingly. Focus and anguish fought each other behind her eyes.

"I have no idea."

The bleeding stopped. The glow began to close in on itself, stretching the skin closed with it, over bone that was still slightly uneven but only just.

Time seemed like it was frozen as they all sat there, waiting like the bone was about to pop back out of his leg. The mysterious aura dissipated slowly.

Knuckles stared. "Did you… _know _you could do that?"

Amber stared too. "N-No idea." The three of them looked down at the mended leg with amazement. "I just… it was instinctual, or something and I…"

"You… can heal," Knuckles said quietly. "You can heal just as well as I've ever seen anyone heal before, even though you never have. The last time I heard of such a thing was about my ancestors…" his eyes shot to hers suddenly and latched on. "That's why Eggman had you on the top floor."

The girl's amber eyes went wide. "The scanner…!" she breathed, and then cut off. The androids had scanned all the prisoners upon their arrival, and placed them on the appropriate floors accordingly… but even though she had been said to be able to use Chaos energy, she had never known how. "But… but I never even knew! I've never even touched a Chaos Emerald before now!"

"Doesn't mean you couldn't _use_ them before now," Knuckles said. "It just means you never got the chance. Amber… different people are good at different things as far as Chaos energy goes, but not everyone can heal. Sonic and I can only do it because we've been fiddling around with these gems our whole lives… and I'm not even sure he can actually do it. But you just did it naturally, like it's one of the gifts you're born with. You would have been really valuable to Eggman and his army, if he had ever managed to create it. It's no wonder you were on the top floor."

She actually smiled. "So… so there is something I can do to help?" She glanced at the Chaos Emerald, and again at Lucas's leg, then fully registered what she had done. "You're… you're okay, Lucas!"

He returned the smile in kind, taking the hand she offered to help him up. "So it was you," he said, facing her. She got the feeling Lucas meant more than he was actually saying, and frowned.

"What?"

For a second he just stared at her, like gears were turning behind his dark green eyes. Then he explained, "If you can _heal… _Amber. After I helped Sonic get those magnets out, I said how his blood clotted fast. Like, _really _fast. He just laughed and said he did everything fast. But it still didn't make any sense..."

"Lucas… no. I mean, I don't think so. How could I have done something? I didn't even feel anything."

"You didn't have to," Knuckles interrupted. "You may very well have done something when Sonic's wounds closed enough to keep him from bleeding too much. Even if you never even realized it."

"But… _how?_"

"We know there was at least one Emerald in the tower," Lucas said. "And… if I'm right, Chaos energy turns thoughts into power, right?"

"Yes," Knuckles replied. "And since Amber is inexperienced she has little control over it. That Chaos Emerald must have picked up on your thoughts of wanting Sonic to be okay. You see… if you can use Chaos energy at all, then controlling it isn't about _making _something happen as much as it is keeping something _from _happening. Use of Chaos energy is passive, especially if you're inexperienced; you let it happen, you don't force it to happen. It's like letting a wind push open a door instead of holding the door shut. Get what I'm saying?"

"I… I think so."

"So, with strong enough thoughts and desires, an inexperienced person – someone who doesn't yet _know _how to hold the door shut, so to speak – could cause a lot of things to happen without even realizing it. This is part of why the Master Emerald must be guarded in isolation, and why the Chaos Emeralds tend to scatter away from each other. It's a preventative measure in case the wrong person gets too close."

"Like Eggman?"

Knuckles laughed once. "Eggman. If that monster knew how to absorb Chaos energy himself, he'd have won a long time ago. Just look at what happened to Station Square when _Chaos _got too wrapped up in those gems' energy. And Chaos is _good _at heart. Eggman is not. I don't want to imagine what would happen if he somehow got Chaos energy in him."

Lucas and Amber nodded solemnly. That put a sobering perspective on it. The former muttered under his breath, "Somehow I don't think someone of Eggman's stature would need a _flood _to take out half a town."

Amber raised an eye ridge at him. "That's terrible."

Shrug. "Sorry. Thought you were used to me by now."

"…If Sonic was around he would have some kind of smart response to that. So I guess you should be allowed to win, for a change, since he's not."

"Well, thanks, I… wait. _For a change?_"

Knuckles smirked. "Sorry man. I think Amber just won.

"Anyway," the girl said, hiding a blush at her own remark, "I, uh, guess it's time to catch up with everyone else now that Lucas's leg is getting better?"

Lucas conceded with a half-smile, gently letting his weight onto his bad leg. It was tender, but functional. "Sure. And… thank you, for what you did," he added with a wink. "I always knew you weren't useless."

xxx

Tails, Espio and Amy were sitting on one of the Tornado's wings a ways away from Meka Tower, but still inside the fence just in case the plane's Cyclone form was needed to fight. Sonic was perched atop a sand dune not far away, though the puffs of sand in the air made him just barely visible. His back was turned towards them, spikes blowing in the relentless wind. All three friends were watching him curiously.

Finally, Tails spun his namesakes and lowered himself to the ground. "I'm gonna go see what's up," he said with a what-can-you-do smile. It certainly was not the first time he had encountered Sonic staring off at nothing contemplatively. Usually he didn't ask, figuring it was Sonic's business. But it had been over three months, and he wanted to be an active part of his friend's life again. They had a lot of lost time to make up for.

"Sonic?" the fox said as he made it to the top of the dune, coming around to stand in front of his friend. The blue blur's expression was unreadable. Tails couldn't tell if that meant something, or if he simply didn't have anything to express at the moment. "All good?"

"Sure. What up?"

"Oh, nothing. You just looked lost in thought. Did I interrupt a reflective mood or something?"

Sonic laughed softly under his breath. "No worries."

"Oh, hey, I almost forgot! Here." Tails handed the hedgehog his communicator. "It's a bit crunched up… I never found the time to repair it. But it still works, so for now you should be good."

"Thanks. Great to have this back, you know? I didn't realize how much we relied on these things."

"Sure thing," Tails said. "So, you okay?"

"Ah, yeah." He threw a casual arm around Tails's shoulders. "Just thinking about a few things. Kai hasn't been around as much and I'm hoping he's okay. And there's this fence. The fact that it's _here_, for one. But, I mean… does it seem big to you? Like it extends really far in this direction?"

"Uh, maybe," the fox replied. "It does go further from the tower in this area than it does in most other areas. But maybe that's just because Eggman had the fence built in between and around sand dunes. It was probably more convenient that way."

"Could be. Just seems like an awful lot of space for… nothing."

"That's true. Eggman's not usually _that _wasteful."

Sonic chuckled. "You don't think so? All those buckets of bolts seem pretty wasteful to me."

"So then why do youwaste your energy on them?" Tails countered with a grin.

"Because I've gotta _waste_ 'em," Sonic said without missing a beat. "That's what makes them such a waste."

Indeed, not much had changed after all.

"Y' know, I gotta admit I'm not sure what we're gonna do about all these people. I mean, you've got the Tornado and all, it's not like _we _couldn't leave. But how are all these other prisoners gonna get past a fence that was built without an opening? Seems like a ridiculously easy obstacle compared to everything else, but…" he shrugged. "I'm stumped."

"Yeah," Tails said. "Only Eggman and his droids were intended to get through. And the Tornado only seats two, so…"

"Suppose Eggman has any hovercrafts or something stowed away in Meka Tower?"

Tails held his gaze for a moment, as if afraid to speak. "…Can we please talk this through before you run off without warning?"

"Go for it."

"I… I don't want you to go back in that place, Sonic," Tails said, looking away. "At least not without me. Besides, we have to get the Master Emerald first. With that faker still on the loose, it's best if it's with the real Knuckles. The prisoners aren't going anywhere. We'll take care of them somehow when we get back. It won't be that long, right?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right, bro. But one thing. Knuckles is healing Lucas right now. He can't get the Master Emerald yet if he wanted to."

"Well… maybe we could wait until he's done," Tails said, almost pleading, "and just stand here and look at stuff, like you were doing before I came up here. Maybe we could just… you know… be still for a few minutes, and exist, and… and hang out. Can we do that, Sonic?"

With his arm still around Tails, Sonic rubbed his opposite shoulder comfortingly. "Yeah," he said with a smile. "We'll do that."

Xxx

_"You know me. Never a dull moment."_ –Sonic

Xxx

_Next chapter: Knuckles and Lucas find themselves discussing the intricacies of the Chaos Emeralds and Master Emerald, and the danger they pose in Eggman's hands. As it turns out, the subjects of their discussion have more relevance yet than they think. Thousands of people are in danger, and with so many dimensions of Eggman's plan still in action, Sonic and the gang have a lot of ground to cover – physically and metaphorically – before any approximation of safety is reached. In the meantime… freedom is merely illusion._

Thanks for reading, please review! See you next time.


	34. Chapter 33: Guardian

Guest: Thanks a lot! Yeah, I guess the end is coming soon… but, I mean, not TOO soon. Especially with the slow pace I've been updating these last few chapters. Oopsie. Anyway, this one is up now, so I hope that you enjoy it! :)

watmelberries: Well you're welcome, and thank you! I'm happy you have enjoyed my stories and the characters, and especially that you find it inspiring. Thanks for commenting, and for all the faves! :)

x

Heya guys. Just want to point out FFN's funny new review system… If you comment anonymously, it'd be great if you could write a name in the box so I can respond to you right, since it just displays as 'Guest' otherwise. (Or not, if you don't care. Whatever floats your boat. xD) Also, before I forget, the last chapter has been updated slightly. Feel free to give it another glance if you want, though it's nothing crucial, just a few fixes and improvements.

I've been away here and there a bit lately, so excuse the sorta-slow update. It's here now though, so enjoy the chapter! Just something to keep in mind here; there are some parts about this one that may be confusing. Things will make sense in the coming chapters, though!

CHAPTER 33: GUARDIAN

"Everyone you're fighting against is out of the tower. Things are not going as planned."

Eggman whirred around to face the source of the mechanical voice. Angry determination brought his eyebrows together. "Outside the tower," he agreed, "but not outside the fence. You didn't think that fence was there for nothing, did you, now?" He paused to laugh condescendingly. "You can't put all your eggs in one basket, my friend!"

"Are you implying something?" the android asked, not appearing to find Eggman's humor incredibly contagious. Eggman crossed his arms, disappointed for a moment before opting for seriousness as well.

"You'll see."

The robot approached him. "Either way," it said, "there are too many of them, and one of them has a flying vehicle of his own. Suppose they escape? How would you be able to stop them?"

The doctor adjusted his glasses to cover his eyes better, letting the light glance off of them briefly. "I've stopped them for _months_ so far. I've built a tower, bases and fortresses, and an army of robots. You think I would let a handful of… _animals_ halt my plans now?"

"Pardon me, Master, I have no doubt of your abilities! It is just that if they actually manage to escape and pursue their objectives, we may have a more difficult time keeping track of them. And they are getting ever closer to just that. You cannot be in two places at once, Doctor Eggman!"

"You don't think so?" The madman's face split with a smug smile. "Why not? After all… Knuckles can. And you can."

"Me? The H-series can merely teleport, Master."

"And who created you to be able to do such a thing?"

"But…" the android stammered dumbly, blue eyes flickering. "But – surely that is different. You could not have…"

"It _is _different," the doctor interrupted his creation, his agreement once again holding the tone of a comma. "But with my technical know-how and what I've done with Chaos energy thus far, this will be child's play compared to what I've already done." Eggman pinched his mustache between a finger and a thumb, then slowly and deliberately let his hand go to his side. "I know what I am doing, my loyal robot. I'm just waiting for the right moment! And as I said… you can't put all your eggs in one basket."

xxx

Amber went to rendezvous with the rest of the team. Knuckles and Lucas followed behind, but Lucas set a slower pace, partially because of his achy leg and partially because he looked to be considering something. "So, Knuckles," he said curiously after a moment, tossing the Chaos Emerald up and down in his hand, "if these things feed off emotion… what let it heal me?"

"Actually, that's a bit different," the guardian replied. "I, and Amber, directed the energy outwards, onto your physical injury. Almost anyone who can use the Emeralds can do that if they're taught how, because it's like using a tool. Like how Tails uses Chaos energy to power his machinery sometimes. Know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I guess," Lucas said, pondering that example. "But why can Amber do it so well if she's never done it before?"

"Maybe the same reason Sonic can transform himself so easily, or certain people can cause Chaos Control. Maybe it's just a _gift. _But even as guardian, I can't really claim to know - Chaos is just that. Chaos. There could be no rhyme or reason to it at all."

Lucas nodded; it made sense, somewhere in its sheer lack of it. But there was still so much about the gems that didn't make sense. He asked the next question drifting about in his mind. "What do you guys mean when you say they feed off emotion, then? If it's not that, then... what?"

"When Sonic talks about Chaos Emeralds running on emotion, it's _absorbing _that energy yourself that he's referring to," Knuckles explained. "There's a big difference between using something, and taking it into yourself."

"Knuckles…" Lucas said slowly, drawing the echidna's eyes towards his own, "when you say they respond to emotion… is that everything? Bad feelings too? Sadness, anger… fear?"

"Of course," Knuckles answered without missing a beat. "Chaos Emeralds respond to any emotion, if it's strong enough. A lot of people have this notion that it has to be aligned with good or evil, since the Emeralds have positive and negative energy. But that's not really the case. It was said in the past that Chaos Emeralds turn thoughts into power... and that's the simple truth of it, Lucas, regardless of whether those thoughts are good, evil, courageous, fearful, happy, sad, neutral…" he flicked a hand. "You get the idea."

Lucas swallowed hard. "When that… _happens,_ thoughts turning into power, I mean… whose thoughts? What if there are two people involved with that power? What if it's, like, a battle?"

Knuckles stared at him dubiously for a moment. After an instant he seemed to decide it easier to answer his curious comrade's questions than wonder why he was asking them. "The controller's thoughts take precedence," he said. "If someone has possession of a Chaos Emerald and they actually know how to put it to use, then they have greater control of it… unless someone very in-tune to Chaos energy calls on the Master Emerald's higher authority to halt it."

"Someone like you?"

"Only if it is at the shrine or near it," Knuckles said. "The shrine is meant for the Master Emerald and helps focus its energy. Without it, no one can." That was the reason Knuckles and the others had had to take the Master Emerald to the shrine on Space Colony ARK. He didn't say so out loud since Lucas wouldn't understand, instead leaving his explanation simple.

Lucas considered it and then backtracked. "So then, what can someone do if they have control over the _Chaos_ Emeralds?"

Knuckles didn't answer for a moment. "What is it you are after here, Lucas?"

Lucas took a long, deep breath, looking slightly intimidated by the question. "Just what I asked," he said, but elaborated anyway. "We had some situations like that in Meka Tower. You know that Eggman was trying to control people with Chaos energy. He tried to control Sonic with it too. More than once."

"What do you mean?" Knuckles met his eyes briefly.

"He made Sonic intake negative Chaos energy without Sonic knowing it at one point," Lucas said. "Yet Sonic overcame it somehow. If Eggman's the one who had the Emeralds in that situation, and was in control of them, wouldn't it be _his _thoughts they were turning into power?"

"I imagine Sonic didn't have very much negative energy," Knuckles said. "Right?"

"Right, but… wait, how did you know that?"

"Because I'm quite sure you can't possibly sneak more than a Chaos Drive's worth of energy into someone without them noticing." The guardian grinned slightly. "Not to mention, Sonic's got a strong mind. He was probably able to simply resist it, since it wasn't a great amount. Besides, Chaos energy can be subjective to who it's affecting, since everyone's thoughts are different. Because of this, it would take a lot more of it _truly_ be able to control someone with it – to turn your own thoughts into power, within someone else."

Lucas thought his insides might have shuddered at that last part, at that horrid possibility. He bit his lip. "How much more of it, you suppose?"

"A lot more than a Drive." The echidna raised his eyebrows. "I would say a Chaos Emerald itself."

"Y-Yeah?" Lucas was sweating from the hot day, but he felt himself shiver beneath it as he connected the dots in his mind. "And even then, Eggman wouldn't be able to do that unless… unless…"

"Unless the person had actually absorbed that energy?" Knuckles finished for him, and looked at him with meaning. "That's correct. Whether by the person's own decision, or by an underhanded scheme like with the Drive you talked about…" he shrugged. "A remote can't control a TV if the TV doesn't have power to run on, right?"

Lucas swallowed again. "I understand why you're so worried about the Master Emerald now," he said. "I mean, if a Chaos Emerald can do that much… If Eggman got a hold of the _Master _Emerald… it has so much more power than the Chaos Emeralds. He could have the control he wants."

Knuckles actually smiled as he looked up at him. "I'm worried about the Master Emerald because it's dangerous in Eggman's hands _any _day of the week," he said, "but not specifically because of this situation. You see… even if Eggman had the Master Emerald and all the Chaos Emeralds, he is oblivious. Dangerous, absolutely – but oblivious. He didn't know how much control he really had."

They left unspoken that it was Sonic who had kept it that way. He had destroyed two scanners. He had deflected the doctor's control more than once, and made him doubt it to the point where he had no longer pursued it. Now, even if Eggman realized everything, it was too late. Meka Tower was free.

Sonic, just like Knuckles, had known those secrets. The intricacies of the Chaos Emeralds' power and law. No one could get rid of the power of Chaos. But people could guard its dangerous secrets. Sonic had protected those secrets, and the people of Meka Tower, with everything he had.

Knuckles thought of how the hedgehog had made fun of his 'pet rock' earlier, and how he himself had gotten irritated at Sonic for it. Sonic had gotten irritated back. Now, as Knuckles considered it, he felt remorseful for not laughing with the hedgehog. He wished he had laughed. He wished he had at least smiled.

He smiled now, fondly. After all, Sonic had guarded those pet rocks awfully well. Better than he had ever consciously realized. At the end of the day, Knuckles protected the Master Emerald - and by extension, its servers - to keep them out of the wrong hands, so that civilization could be safe. Sonic had done exactly that.

"You know him well, don't you?" Lucas asked. "Sonic, I mean."

Knuckles laughed once. "I know he's stubborn as hell. That pretty much forms the basis for the rest of him."

They walked – or limped, in Lucas's case – in relative quiet for a few minutes, following Amber as she went back toward the Tornado. Lucas was hurting slightly, but didn't complain. His shin had been broken horribly just an hour ago, and not many people could be back to walking after an hour. He hardly felt he had a right to complain.

As he thought about how Knuckles and Amber had healed him, something occurred to him that he had wanted to ask earlier. "So… why doesn't Sonic heal, then, even though he's just as good with Chaos energy?"

"As good as Amber, or me?" Knuckles asked.

"You, duh," Lucas said. "Looks like Amber pretty much takes the cake for healing."

If Amber could hear them, she pretended not to. Knuckles was staring ahead at her as though wondering if she could.

"Well?"

"Because Sonic is stupid," Knuckles answered. His voice wasn't terse, but rather simple, like this was just a statement of fact. "He doesn't get the balance like I do. It'd be genuinely easier for him to hurt than to watch someone else hurt, so he'll take all the excess energy onto himself and still try to heal the person. It just doesn't work that way, because you can't concentrate enough on helping someone if you're letting the energy overwhelm you and break your focus.

"Sonic just does things his way, for better or worse. To be fair, so do I, but…" he shrugged. "He doesn't heal much anyway; I usually do things like that since I'm the guardian, like I said. So it's not really worth it for him to bother anyway."

"I don't know how that guy is still alive sometimes," Lucas said. "For someone who loves life so much… I've never met anyone so reckless before. Ever. You should have seen him in the prison, seriously."

"Oh, I can imagine." Knuckles laughed. "Sonic is crazy sometimes but he's one of the most compassionate people I know, even if it _is _reckless compassion. For the record, if you ever tell him I said anything good about him, I'll _un_heal you. He's already got an ego the size of Meka Tower."

"I know _that _first hand," Lucas sighed, wondering somewhere in the back of his mind if healing could actually be undone before deciding he wasn't too keen on finding out. "Sometimes you want to tell him to take a break, you know? But then saying something just fuels the fire even more. You keep thinking he's going to crash eventually, run out of energy or something… haven't seen the day yet."

"And speed is his main thing, too," Knuckles muttered. "Stick him in a situation where he can't use it and he's just as incompetent as everyone else."

Lucas mumbled something incoherent.

"What's that?"

"I said… I don't know about that. Like you said earlier, he's really stubborn."

"You mean like how he's always mouthing off or making claims when he can't possibly know everything?"

"That," Lucas said, rolling his eyes, "and also just the way he fights. Even if something's hopeless, he's still got hope in his mind. You know what I mean?"

"Well, he's not the only one," Knuckles said with a hint of a smile. "You don't know the rest of us that well yet, but Sonic and Tails and I have been in a lot of broken situations together. After a while you… well… you don't get used to it, but I guess you sort of adapt and find a way to deal. And that's just Sonic's particular way of doing that. He's naturally stubborn and he's got a survivor's resolve. Gets him through when physical strength and skill can't. And hey, he's still here and happy, so I guess he's doing something right."

"If you ask me," Lucas said quietly, "I think we've all got some of that resolve, too. Just thinking about where I started… with the way I was, if you asked me if I thought I'd still be hanging on… I don't think I'd have been able to answer. Maybe it's the same with a lot of people who were trapped in there. But we're… we're all right, you know that?"

Knuckles gave a sincere nod, his eyes an unreadable violet gaze. "That's just what I was trying to say."

"When this began, most of us didn't think we had a chance. But we've gotten this far. Even with all the setbacks. You, me, Sonic – all of us, really. That means something."

The echidna grunted acknowledgement of this, nodding once more.

"Oh, and Knuckles?"

"Yeah."

"Don't you tell Sonic that _I _said all these good things about him, either."

The echidna gave a dry laugh. "I think you and I could be good friends."

xxx

Long before the sun set, Tails was asleep on the sand, snuggled cozily into Sonic's side. Sonic had to make a conscious effort not to wince whenever he moved; that area had been abused so many times in the last two days he had lost count.

_Wait, is that even when that happened?_

The memory of fighting with Espio at the top of Meka Tower seemed so far gone. It could have been a few days ago or a week ago… but if the ripe bruise on his side was anything to go by, it was at least somewhat closer to the former.

Just before he joined his friend in slumber, a rumbling feel shook him back to full consciousness, and he snapped his eyes open. For a second he thought he had imagined it in a dream. Then it happened again.

He gently moved Tails away from him and got up. From the high perspective, he could see hundreds of people sprawled out in the sand, trying to convince their bodies to cool off now that it was nighttime. He hoped they were okay. The heat was sweltering, and now that the dark order of Meka Tower had been plunged into chaos, androids would certainly not be coming around to hand out food and water. And nobody wanted to go back into the tower.

The ground rumbled again.

"Tails…" Sonic said, and heard his friend stir. "If I were you, I'd get up…"

"Wh… what?" he asked groggily, rubbing his eyes. "'S everything okay, Sonic?"

"Feel that?"

As if on cue, the ground rumbled again, more insistent this time. The vibrations sent a chill up Sonic's spine. On some other plane of consciousness, he realized it made perfect sense that something would go wrong while everyone was still stuck here. What was it he had noticed earlier that had made him suspicious…?

"Yeah. The shaking. I feel it. What's it mean, Sonic?"

"I don't know, bud."

"Should we be worried? Maybe it's just some kinda tremor or something…"

Then Sonic remembered. The fence.

In the area directly out front from the tower was a vast amount of room between that and its surrounding fence, like he'd noticed earlier. As the people around him woke up and began to panic, Sonic now realized why. Eggman had needed _room_…

Aggravated plumes of sand filled the air as something enormous pushed its way up from beneath, fitting just between the tower and the fence. Not everyone was in that area, but the vast majority was, most of the prisoners not having gone far after getting off the front ramp of the tower. They were swept up on the rising platform...

Sonic had seen Eggman's machinery do amazing things before. He felt suddenly numb to what was happening, realizing just how unsurprising it was. He should have suspected a long time ago. Just like so many other things… he should have known better. Eggman _always _had a backup plan.

And that backup plan was happening right now. Below Sonic's feet was a logo with Eggman's face on it, and across the mustache, the words 'Egg Carrier 2.'

He took in the symbol, the words, and blinked. "But I thought…"

"Sonic!" Tails cried, losing his balance as the fortress lifted higher into the air, puffs of dust and sand rising almost explosively around them. Sonic grasped his hand and pulled him back to his feet. "W-we need to do something…!"

"I know, I just… Tails, the Egg Carrier 2 was supposed to be done for! After Chaos—"

"I remember, Sonic," Tails interrupted him. "But Eggman builds things from _scratch _in a short time, never mind repairing what he already has! There's no time to try and figure this out!"

"Right. We gotta get moving." The blue blur's ears turned, folding backward in anger. "I knew something was off. That Egghead… enough's enough already!"

"Sonic, what should we do?" Tails asked, clutching the hedgehog's arm. "Wait, we should find the others! That we can figure out the best thing to do without anyone getting caught up in this."

"Answered your own question, bro. Let's go!"

With Tails still holding onto him, the blue blur took off along the black and red surface of the Egg Carrier 2. He had never actually set foot on it before, but it was almost exactly like the first one. It had the same layout, wide back wings, and huge, diamond-shaped boosters beneath. The scream of powerful engines cut thickly through the air – through the screams of fright around them – and made everything vibrate. Sonic could feel it in his aching muscles. It was a monstrosity of a machine, even slightly larger than its predecessor and equally proportionate in the threat it posed.

"_Sonic!_" Just as he registered the holler, someone grasped his arm and brought both him and Tails to a clumsy stop. It was Knuckles. "Where are you going?"

"Oh, sorry… didn't see you because of all the sand." Sonic surveyed the area, seeing that nobody had been separated very far. Knuckles had already gotten a hold of Lucas and Amber since they had been near, and Espio was quickly coming toward them with Amy at his heels. Espio looked to be in pain, probably due the jarring motions of the Egg Carrier 2 affecting his recent injuries. Sonic could empathize.

"What do you suppose he's doing?" Amy asked, approaching Sonic and Tails closely, looking nervous but ready.

"I don't know, Amy," Sonic admitted. He looked down, saw her fidgeting with her thumbs, and gave her arm a quick nudge of encouragement. "But we're gonna find out."

"This thing is huge!" Tails said. "I'd be awestruck if this wasn't such a serious situation. A-are a lot of other people up here?"

"Looks that way," muttered Espio. "Everyone headed to the area where the fence was widest since it was right out front, and there would be room for everyone there. I imagine Eggman planned it that way in case things got to this point…"

Sonic scratched his chin, still looking irritated for not suspecting. "But… where's he taking us?"

The group of friends became quiet, no one venturing to even guess the answer. Around them, androids were intermixed with the people, many with hovering extensions. Sonic wasn't surprised; every time he thought he had seen the last of them, they seemed to become even more infinite. Prisoners were running and panicking, some nearing the edge of the fortress to see how much of a chance they stood if they jumped. It wasn't much; the Egg Carrier 2 was already hundreds of feet in the air, its boosters blowing the sand beneath everywhere as it rose higher. Even the softest of sand dunes wouldn't cushion a fall from that height.

The Egg Carrier 2 tilted suddenly, violently. Sonic saw a woman stumble forward, trying to catch herself and only grasping the air.

"Gotcha!" Sonic ran to catch her, legs just as fast as his mind's decision to do so, and snagged her by the arm. "Get back," he said obviously as he drew her away from danger. Before she had time to thank him, he took off, running comfortably enough along the edge of the fortress and encouraging anyone else near it to back away. Several androids chased after him but none held a candle to his speed, and soon he was out of their sight through the storm of sand.

Only when he made it back around to Tails again did he realize that the Egg Carrier 2 was still jolting and tilting. The movement was not caused by turbulence or mechanical problems… it was been fully intentional.

"Sonic the hedgehog…" Eggman's voice boomed over a loudspeaker to explain himself. Everyone jumped. Sonic tensed with rising rage, but remained where he was, expecting a long explanation of the doctor's next plan of action. To everyone's surprise, however, it turned out to be remarkably short… and remarkably severe: "If I can't have them, neither can you."

The ship tilted more, its nose pointing diagonally to the sky.

"No! Are you crazy!?" Knuckles hollered, being the first – perhaps oddly – to understand Eggman's meaning. He whirred around to Sonic, dreadlocks whipping in his face. "He's going to make them fall off, Sonic! We have to do something!"

Sonic couldn't help but answer the echidna's rhetorical question in his mind. _Yeah. Yeah, he's crazy all right._

Something was wrong with the doctor – something more than the usual, maybe. Suddenly Sonic thought there had to be more reason to the madman's 'crazy' than this. But there was no time to consider it. The reasons didn't matter anymore. All he knew was that Eggman had to be stopped one way or another.

"Sonic, Knuckles!" Tails called. "Grab onto me. I'm going to get as many people off of this thing as I can, starting with all of us!"

"Get the others first," both hedgehog and echidna said, and then shot each other a look. Tails snagged Sonic's gaze for a moment, then nodded, realizing that the hedgehog had things to take care of up here yet.

"When you're done," the fox said, "I'll be ready with the Tornado near the back of the fortress. That way we can take off from there. We've got things to do still, am I right?"

Sonic looked at his brother and nodded once with meaning. "Be ready."

Tails grasped the hands of Amber and Amy and took off as fast as he could. It took only minutes, and he returned with a confirming nod before taking hold of Lucas and Espio – a heavier but tolerable pair since he was going down rather than up – and headed for the sand dunes again.

"Do you have anything in mind, Sonic?" Knuckles asked.

"We know Eggman's in the pilot room. We've got to get to it. Tails is fast, but even he won't be able to put a dent in the amount of people there are on here."

"Yeah. There's got to be thousands. Sonic…" He waited for Sonic to meet his eyes. "You know there's no way everyone on this fortress is going to make it. We can only do what we can do."

Sonic nodded with deep reluctance, but otherwise chose not to respond. Maybe because he didn't want to confess it aloud in spite of its truth. "So the only way is to get to the control room. We can stop Eggman and level out the fortress all at once!"

"Sounds like a plan."

It was the plan until the fortress gave another lurch upward, causing Sonic, Knuckles and everyone else to stumble backwards uncontrollably. People lost their balance, arms flying out to grasp onto something that wasn't there. In a panic, they slid down the surface, towards the back end of the machine, where they would either fall to their death or be burned alive by the fire bursting out of the boosters… That is, unless something was done very, _very _quickly...

"_No!_"

Knuckles smashed his fist into the floor and dug in, grasping Sonic's arm as he slid by to catch him too. Immediately, the blue blur tried to get up, disregarding the extreme angle of the ship.

"_EGGMAN!_" Sonic shouted desperately, hoping somehow that the maniac would hear him. His voice was laced with disbelief and rage. More people slid by him, getting closer to the back of the huge thing with every passing second. He couldn't reach any of them. "_Stop this right now!_ You don't need slaves and minions! You don't need to kill all these innocent people... Fight _me_! Fight me, you _coward_!"

Eggman responded. "Hm hm hm. How typical, hero. So naïve, aren't you, to think this is all about you. It was never about you, dearest Sonic. See… I want to rule the world. You, Sonic, are the one who has been the constant thorn in my side. I fully intend to defeat you, but that alone is not my goal; it is merely another stepping stone towards the ultimate control."

"Letting all these people die isn't going to get you any closer to your goal either way!" Sonic tried to keep the pleading out of his voice. "You're going too far! Fighting me is much more productive, don't ya think?"

"Why would I waste my energy doing that, hedgehog? You're going to fall just like the rest of these people. Have you noticed that your fox friend has not yet returned to rescue you?"

Knuckles growled. "We told him to take care of the others first, that's why!"

"Believe what feels comfortable for you, Knuckles. But I'm sure it will not feel comfortable knowing I have almost secured the Master Emerald."

"Wh-what…?"

"Don't listen to him!" Sonic said to the echidna. "Tails is just fine, and I'm sure the Master Emerald is too! He's only trying to fool you!"

"Soon enough it'll be true, even if it's not now! We must act!"

Sonic tore out of the guardian's grasp and got unsteadily to his feet, leaning forward towards the nose to keep himself upright. Nearby, most people had found things to grasp onto and others had managed to right themselves and stop falling. None dared to try and get up.

Others had fallen. Friends, comrades – tens or perhaps even a hundred of them. It was far less than the total amount of people on the ship. But every life was valuable. Hundreds of people or one person was a terrible loss all the same. There hadn't even been a chance to help them. They knew that if Sonic had tried to save them, had gotten too close to the edge now... he too would have fallen. The ship was too angled and moving too violently.

"…That's right, guardian. Your precious Emerald will soon be in my hands!"

While Eggman was talking, Sonic saw something out of the corner of his eye, and had an idea.

"I refuse to believe that!" Knuckles shouted. The argument shifted to the background of the hedgehog's mind. "Even if you knew where it was, you couldn't get to it. You won't even back up what you're saying!"

One of the androids was getting close to Sonic. Like many of those he had encountered at the top of Meka Tower, it hovered and had weapons attached to its arms. In his peripheral vision, he saw one of those weapons being leveled at him.

He was hyper-aware of every inch the robot moved. He kept his muscles loose, knowing that a tense body would only serve to slow his reaction. He needed to execute his plan at just the right moment. He did have a small margin for error, but it wasn't enough to diminish the precision needed for what he was about to do.

Sonic breathed.

The bullet fired, splitting the wind with its speed. He dove forward a fraction of a second too late, and the bullet struck the top of one of his spikes. There was the slightest flash of blood. Sonic collapsed deliberately, rolling down the tilted surface of the Egg Carrier 2.

"Sonic!" Knuckles called, his voice a snarl as he caught sight of the android.

"Oh dear, I didn't expect you to be _that _easy, Sonic!" Eggman mocked. "I'm almost disappointed!"

People screamed as Sonic rolled past them limply, falling towards the back of the fortress. A few tried to reach out for him, but to no avail.

It was exactly as he had planned. He knew Eggman wouldn't think he had been killed. It _was _too easy, and even outside of his ego, Sonic knew it. But if nothing else Eggman would assume he was at least hurt.

The full minute it took seemed more like seconds to those who witnessed it, as Sonic finally ran out of ground and began descending through the air, missing the boosters only marginally.

Sonic had told Tails to be ready, and ready he was. None of the prisoners saw the Tornado plow through the flames just out of view, catching Sonic on the wing before he fell into them.

xxx

"Sonic, you're insane."

Sonic didn't respond. He was holding loads of tissues to his head. Tails had stuffed them in the hedgehog's hands as soon as he had climbed into his seat. Although it had only been a couple minutes, they were a safe cushion of distance away from the Egg Carrier 2 – Tails had thrown the plane into high gear as soon as he could.

Frightened and annoyed, the fox persisted stubbornly. "What were you thinking?"

"I'm… not so sure I was."

"I don't believe you," Tails muttered, then gave him a sidelong smile. "But it looks like Eggman does. He knows you fell off. He's leveling out the ship again."

"That was what I was hoping for." Sonic stuffed the tissues against his head. He was bleeding where a patch of quills had been torn from him, but nothing of crucial substance had actually been hit - only the quills. "I don't think he'll fall for it for long, but since I'm off the fortress now, he has no reason to threaten all those people again."

"But he said if he couldn't have them, neither could you."

"And I don't, do I? As far as he knows, I'm either hurt or escaped, and so I have no control over what he does with the prisoners now."

Tails blinked. "Isn't that… _bad_?"

"Yeah, I s'ppose," Sonic said, "but it's better than him killing everyone right then and there, isn't it? Now, at least, we have time."

"True. But we still have to free them somehow."

"Of course. But for now, he has no reason to let anyone else fall. At least… I sure hope not. I hate to say this, but we need to get the Master Emerald. If it wasn't urgent before, it is now. Eggman sounded pretty confident about getting it himself…"

"Right, I heard." Tails looked on ahead grimly for a moment, bangs blowing in the wind. Then he abruptly glanced at Sonic again, eyeing his wound. "Hey, are you all right?"

"Psh, yeah." Sonic smiled, and there was a hint of rapture in his eyes as he gazed out over the world beyond. He felt great, despite everything. For a while, he had forgotten the taste of adventure, of the adrenaline swirling in his torso in the midst of a challenge… the paradox of feeling most alive when he was running along the chaotic edge of death. The last few days, for all their hardships and challenges, had been exactly what he needed. It was finally catching up to him that he was free, for real. Turning around again, he looked Tails in the eye confidently. "I've been through far worse than a single bullet shot."

"I figured you'd say something like that." Tails smiled too. "Just had to make sure, though."

"Thanks. And between you and me, quills aren't all that sensitive to injuries. If they were I wouldn't be able to attack with them as hard as I do." Sonic shrugged. "It doesn't hurt anywhere near as bad as it probably looks like it does. I can just barely feel it now."

"You knew what you were doing, didn't you?"

Sonic shrugged. "You learn to think strategically after years of experience. But hey, let's hurry it up before someone figures out what really happened."

"Sure thing. Get comfortable and we'll go really fast again."

Sonic smirked and did so. "That's what I like to hear."

It took less than ten minutes to get to their destination, but despite their speed, it felt like forever. Life tended to drag by in slow motion when you needed it to be anything but. It was as though their minds sped up while the world about them slowed down. Sonic coined this term 'mental molasses' in the privacy of his own mind, tapping his foot impatiently on the floor with the itch to move.

What let his thoughts slow just slightly - though by no means comfortably - was thinking back on what had almost just happened. He wondered if the ship had been leveled again too late. He wondered how many people hadn't made it; wondered if someone he had made eye contact with or smiled at or talked to hadn't made it.

It was the first time death had presented itself so blatantly. But it wasn't the first time it had been there. He remembered the stories he had heard on the lower levels. The way people's faces had looked. He realized on some level that tragedy had been there all along, though silently. People had been starved, hurt, horribly neglected. Of course not everyone had made it.

He made his best effort to do what the situation had done for him up until that point: block it out until he could afford the time and mental state to think about it. There was nothing he could do for what had already happened... only for what hadn't happened yet.

Finally, they landed in a bland forest at the edge of the cave. Even that was a relief compared to urgently waiting to arrive. Neither of them could shake the edgy feeling that had set in earlier, but now at least their purpose wasn't on pause.

"Wow, Sonic," Tails exclaimed, climbing out of the Tornado after his friend and entering the dark tunnel that led to the Master Emerald's cave. "I can't believe we actually pulled this off. Nobody noticed!"

"Not yet," the hedgehog replied, swatting bugs away. "We gotta be fast and keep it that way. So this is where it's hidden, hm?"

"Yeah," Tails said, "a little ways down. This area got flooded for a while during that nasty storm—"

"Wait... what?"

"But it looks dry now!" Tails finished, looking up at Sonic sheepishly. "There shouldn't be water down there anymore. I mean, it must have cleared out or soaked in or something. We'll be fine." He smiled. "I was just gonna go on to say that that's when I found our third Chaos Emerald – that night we had the storm. That's when I fought that imposter echidna. Remember?"

"Yeah, sure do!"

"And this is also where I was when you first got a hold of me again," Tails said, voice becoming softer as he looked up at Sonic next to him. That had been an uplifting day. "It's really a beautiful place. Amy wanted to be the one to show it to you, but oh well. Anyway, that day was great." He held Sonic's gaze as if to say, 'wasn't it?' and the hedgehog nodded his head in agreement. "I mean, we got the Master Emerald, which was awesome on its own. Then I sealed it inside this place, and it just lights up all the jewels and makes it look so neat. It'd be, like, Rouge's heaven," he remarked with a laugh. Then his expression became more sincere again. "And then you contacted me from Meka Tower. Everything just kind of came together at once."

"That's pretty awesome, bro. Gotta have the good days with the bad, right? Would be no fair otherwise!"

"You bet," Tails said, chuckling a little. "This is quite the crazy adventure, huh, Sonic?"

"You bet!" Sonic repeated back to him. "Crazy even for us, which is saying something." He gave Tails a sideways glance as they walked. "But we're doing okay, you know? We've come this far."

"Yeah. We're doing okay," the fox replied with a content smile. "Still, sometimes I miss the good old days when it was just freeing animals from capsules so Eggman couldn't use them in his robots. Don't you?"

Sonic snorted. "What, the days where everything was repetitive and predictable? No thanks. Tails… one day, when Eggman meets his end – his _real _end – we'll look back on _these _days and wish we had them back. Why glorify the past when we have something great right here in the present?"

"Great?"

Sonic stopped. Tails did too. "Look me in the eyes, Tails, and tell me you're not going to remember at least some of this adventure fondly."

Tails realized he couldn't say it. "I… I'm having the time of my life now, Sonic," he admitted softly, realizing it only at the same time he spoke the words. "I guess I just feel guilty saying so, because so much bad stuff has happened. But now things are kinda better again, and, I mean, I'm on an adventure with you! And we've made it through a ton, and I've learned so much about both of us, and… and you're exactly right, Sonic. This is what it's all about."

As they proceeded through the dank tunnel, Sonic ruffled the fur on Tails's head with one hand.

"Heya Sonic," Tails said after a few more minutes of walking, sounding uncertain. "Do you think we should have brought the Tornado with us instead of parking it outside the cave?"

In response, the hedgehog shrugged. "I dunno, maybe. This is taking long enough already, though, and that probably would've just made it slower."

The Tornado would have fit through the long passageway, they knew, but it would have been difficult since it was pretty narrow. Even in its Cyclone form, the parts that stuck out would drag against the walls and get scratched up. They had figured it easier just to walk.

Finally, their path began to open up, the space becoming less claustrophobic and the air becoming less humid. They could see light from the Master Emerald bleeding through the edges of the password door Tails had installed there. He approached the keypad now, Sonic close next to him, and quickly punched in a series of numbers.

Despite how many times Eggman had tricked and manipulated them before, Sonic still gasped as the door slid smoothly open and he saw the mad doctor in the area before them.

xxx

_"You fool. Away… before I make mincemeat out of you." –Eggman, Sonic Adventure_

xxx

_In the next chapter: _We've waited 80% of the story for it, but the scene that had to happen is here… Sonic vs. Eggman.

Heh heh.


	35. Chapter 34: Like Iron

DanceDream: Well frick, I don't get the reference. xD Yeah, I agree about Eggman wisening up. He somehow seems more… sinister and calculated during the Adventure era, compared to some later games. Heh, glad you liked Knuckles and Lucas's little conversation there. As for Sonic, I'm sure he doesn't mind too much, he missed his lil' bro. :3 Oh and, bear with me here because it probably IS pushing the envelope a bit, but, the EC2 disappeared behind buildings in SA2 and we didn't really SEE what it looked like after that. So I guess I took that as "open to interpretation." XD For the sake of this story, Eggman probably found the bulk of it and built it back up again. He seems to have a crazy ability to build huge fortresses and bases in seemingly no time at all, lol. Yeah… as for the next part about Eggman letting people die, he's sure oddly dark these days, isn't he? I wonder if there's some kind of reason, hmm. Heh, like a game, huh? Glad to hear it! Heh, how I wish I could write officially, but don't most fanfic writers somewhere in their minds, I suppose… I appreciate that. :D Eheh… yeah, about Eggman being there when he SHOULDN'T be able to be there by all rights… that should be… _mostly _answered in this chapter here. ;) I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter and that it surprised you! Hope you're not too confused, lol, but like I said it should get cleared up soon. :) Hee, thanks. I like title drops. Even if the meaning of the title is pretty conspicuous already. x3

MsArtsy: Thanks a lot, glad you liked it! Oh, really? That's ambitious! Sure, go for it, if you want to! :) Totally cool with me as long as the story is credited like you said. Thanks again!

Beck: Thanks. :) Hope you enjoy the rest too!

x

Hey, guys! SR has gotten some new art recently – and an epic logo, too! (Current cover is by LightningChaos2010 on deviantart!) Hit the links at the top of my profile to take a better look, and if you've got an account on dA, give the artists some attention and subscribe! (Thanks, **LightningChaos2010** and **Sonicfan11luv)**

Heh, you guys threw a lot of questions at me last chapter, and I intend to answer all of 'em. However, there are some things that might still be left in the dark until the time is right. At some point all of it will make sense, but if you have more questions lemme know. :)

Also, thanks to several of you guys for the burst of motivation and general excitement the last few days. And not just because of the art (though I am still so surprised and amazed, hee). Kitsuneaku, Lightning, Red, and Child, it's been fun talking to you and being Sonic nuts in general, and… t'hehe, I think you gave me a little confidence boost I didn't know I could use. I mean, I am quite proud of this story as it is… but you got me extra-comfortable with it luuulz. OvO;;

Wow, mass author noting. Anyway, thanks to all of you guys for your comments, questions, suggestions and praise thus far, which I'm in the process of replying to as always. :) I hope you enjoy the new chapter and that it lives up to what you've come to expect of Survivor's Resolve. :)

CHAPTER 34: LIKE IRON

The blinding green of the Master Emerald reflected off the crystals and moist surfaces of the cave, sharp and clashing. Its glow highlighted nothing as much as it highlighted what Eggman was sitting in, looking down at them from with a smug smile below his still-uneven mustache.

Eggman was fastened in a colossal machine that darkly resembled the H-series robots. It was black and humanoid, its air of vindictiveness increased just as much as its size, and had only a few differences from its smaller counterparts. But those few differences made all the difference in the world.

It shot to a height above eight feet tall. Four sets of arms, instead of merely one, shot out from its sides – its torso – and each set varied slightly from the others. The limbs had Eggman's over-the-top style all over them: obnoxiously overbuilt to look like they should weigh down the body, highlighted in abundance with reds and yellows, and emblazoned with the Eggman logo.

The top set was comprised of large hands, made for capture, like most of the humanoids. The second had gun barrels like a few of the others. The third had more hands, these ones smaller and with sharp, angled fingers, meant for attack. Sonic couldn't tell at first what the lower set was, but when Eggman shifted the machine's weight threateningly, he caught a glimpse of a bright glow coming from one of the limbs' ends.

It was cackling like undiminished lightning. Charged and ready… even though there appeared to be no projectile.

Green light from the Master Emerald glinted madly off the black surface of the ten-limbed nightmare. Eggman's round, protective hovercraft rested in a concave dip atop its neck, serving as the head.

Sonic and Tails were frantic, both ready to scramble out of the way if it attacked. The thing was terrifying and looked more agile than any robot either of them had ever seen. As it was, it was just standing there… waiting for something.

"…Eggman," Sonic finally said, voice adopting an undercurrent of uneasiness.

"Thought you were being sneaky, did you." The doctor's booming voice ricocheted off the ceiling and came back down, vibrating through the ground. The Master Emerald's glow lent itself to his round glasses the same way it spread to the jewels around it, making them shine sinisterly. His nose was still crooked from Kai's attack. "That show was in vain, my dear blue friend. Maybe you are my worst enemy, but after all these years, I've still gotten to _know _you. Your fighting skills are not perfect, Sonic – far from it in fact – but even I know you would never fail to react like you did back on my incredible fortress not long ago when you were shot at. I know you wanted to make me think you were hurt, so that I would not expect you. And so, being the clever genius I am, I abandoned the Egg Carrier 2 to follow the Tornado… and ultimately reached my goal! Funny how the tables turn like that."

"Funny," Sonic said, grinning but somehow not looking amused.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he realized this was at least partially a good thing; the people were safe for the moment, since Eggman had left the ship.

"I suppose you're wondering how I got into this well-protected room," Eggman said. Sonic hadn't particularly been wondering, but was now that the doctor had mentioned it.

"You got past Tails's door."

Eggman gestured to the door in question. "I only altered it from this side."

"From this side? So you found another way in…!"

"Did I?"

Sonic blinked in confusion, then shook his head to himself, irritated and defiant. "I'm not messing around here!"

"Yes, I appreciate that."

"Are you going to explain or what?"

Eggman did so concisely, but with no less boasting in his tone for it. "Chaos Control."

This time, Sonic had no impatient remark at the ready. He stood there dumbfounded, one eyebrow rocking downward. "_What?_"

"Ah, Sonic. Didn't you notice the specific way robots sometimes entered your cell? I created the H-series robots to be able to teleport occasionally. The H-series is powered by Chaos energy – what else did you think let them be able to do that?"

"Yeah. _Them._" Sonic eyed the doctor uneasily. Robots and humans were two different things, the latter far more complex than the former – and naturally a lot more complex regarding Chaos energy, as well. "You're not a robot, doc."

Even GUN had played with Chaos Control and gotten some of their beetles to teleport. But not their soldiers, not their _humans_.

"I am _in_ a robot, though." Eggman gestured about himself obviously. "It surrounds me. It was, essentially, my vehicle through teleportation."

Sonic wanted to rebuke Eggman's reasoning – argue that it still shouldn't be possible unless the doctor himself could use Chaos Control – but he couldn't think of anything to back it up with. The madman was, after all, _here_, no matter how much it shouldn't have been possible… no matter how alarming the implications.

He didn't understand.

"My only regret," Eggman continued, "is that eventually, my goal will require me to put an end to all of those would-have-been-warriors. You see, Sonic, now that they are aware of my plans, I cannot have them running loose in the world as you would have them. That, obviously, would ruin everything."

_What is wrong_ _with you?... _Sonic growled low in his throat. Eggman had just threatened thousands of people… including Lucas and Amber. It didn't matter what was wrong. Only that he stopped it. "Same reason you hung onto even the people who couldn't use Chaos energy," he said, words quivering with rage. "They'd out you and your intentions with the Chaos Emeralds. Well… they're not the only ones who know. They're not the only ones who can reveal you for what you are… which is an even _worse _example of a human being than you were to begin with!" He glared. "See, Eggman, you made the mistake of revealing your plans to _me_. And I can deal with you right here and _now!_"

Sonic sped into the room, aiming right for the top of the robot, where Eggman was. Several things happened quickly: the doctor pressed a button. The password door closed with Tails still outside it. The robot shoved Sonic away with a quick motion of one of its arms.

He caught himself on the ground with his hands. The resulting smack coincided with the echo of the slamming door.

"_Sonic!_ " Tails cried from the other side. "He rigged my door!"

"Y-ya think?"

"I can't get back in with the password! It's not working!"

Sonic got to his feet and looked at Eggman inside his robot as he approached. "Well played," he muttered with a grin. "I see what you're after, here. You want an out-and-out fight? I'm more than happy to oblige. Just know that you'll be on the receiving end of most—" Sonic almost said before an arm extended unexpectedly from its socket and thwacked him across the face, making him catch himself against the ground.

"What was that you were saying?" Eggman asked, playing with one side of his mustache. He hadn't hit hard; it was more a display of the robot's speed and potency than anything. Sonic hadn't even been able to get out of the way.

"No worries, I was done," Sonic said, recovering quickly and spin dashing at the monstrous machine. "You're the one who's supposed to be all talk and no action, after all!"

Eggman smacked Sonic away from his machine with another lightning-fast arm. "Actually, I'm pretty sure you were saying something about me being on the receiving end of _your _attacks. Though if that were the case, I'd have to argue. It appears I'm quite good at dishing out attacks myself."

Sonic uncurled and got up, brushing off his quills where he had been struck. "Well then! Looks like I can dish 'em _and _take 'em! What luck we're in!"

"If your present blabbering is anything to go by, I would say…"

Not pausing to listen to what Eggman would say, Sonic rammed himself into the torso of the huge H-series robot, grinding into it with his spikes and making the metal screech.

It barely scratched the paint.

"Are you kidding?" Sonic breathed, feeling the resistance against him, stubbornly refusing to give way to his attack.

The H-series androids were supposed to be easy to destroy once you could get to them. This was _not _going to be easy.

"Ohhhoho." Eggman laughed and effortlessly pushed Sonic away with one of the robotic limbs. "I won't go down so quickly."

Sonic righted himself once more and smirked. "Kindred spirit."

"Well, what were you expecting, Sonic? You were so quick to insult my intelligence with your arrogance and naivety. Did you think this robot would be the same as the others you've faced lately, only larger? I've got more on my side than size, Sonic."

Sonic almost made a remark saying he had enough of that as it was, but withheld it. That wasn't cool, even if it _was _Eggman, and insults were more Lucas's brand of humor than his. _Guess being stuck with someone for months makes 'em wear off on ya a little…_

Eggman went on, oblivious. "This robot is stronger than you can imagine. It is a fighting machine, made not for capturing and controlling others, but for full-out attack against _you, _specifically."

"Whatever. Let's see you walk the walk, already. I'm not here for conversation."

"So eager, are we?" Eggman smiled smugly and shot a glance over at the Master Emerald before subtly pressing another button. Lights that had been dark on the machine before suddenly flared green. So did the glow coming from the bottom launchers… and with startling dread Sonic realized why there were no projectiles there.

"It… it can use Chaos energy!"

"But of course. Haven't you been listening? I created the H-series this way."

"_Sonic!_" Tails shouted from the other side of the door. "You can too! I know it's the Master Emerald instead of the Chaos Emeralds, but I bet you could still tap into it if you tried!"

Sonic grinned, glancing at the green gem. "One step ahead of you, bud."

"You can win!"

It was natural at that point to look up at Eggman and gauge the doctor's reaction to what he would surely consider an unexpected development. When he did, Eggman was looking down at him from atop the robot, expression hardly having changed at all. He was unreadable.

Eggman was almost always smug, angry, or somehow expressive. Never unreadable. So it was that, of all things, that let Sonic read him the best. Suddenly he realized.

"No…" he breathed, voice barely a whisper. He continued looking up at Eggman, incredulous.

"Sonic?" Tails called, voice muffled by the barrier in between them. "Sonic, is anything happening? Are you getting the Master Emerald to work?"

Sonic's eyes stiffly roamed the robot's body down to its feet, taking in the telltale glow of Chaos energy, before making their way back up to Eggman's face again. Eggman looked back down at him, light reflecting off his dark blue goggles. For a moment, Sonic almost couldn't get himself to move as the enormity of his realization hit home. In a quiet voice, he answered Tails.

"I… I can't."

The robot's open hand swung around again and took Sonic off his feet, throwing him into the locked door. Eggman roared with laughter.

"Sonic! Was that… was that you? Are you…"

"I-it's fine," Sonic said, gritting his teeth and pulling himself up by the door. "Yeesh, Eggman…"

He realized that only now had the fight started in earnest.

"What do you mean you _can't?" _Tails demanded, voice hot with fear. "Of course you can! Sonic the Hedgehog isn't going to stand there and tell me he…"

"Tails!" Sonic cut him off. He was still leaning on the door, head turned, eyes fixed on the robot coming at him. "You don't understand – the Master Emerald is Eggman's right now! He's the… the controller! And I…"

"You what? Sonic, positive energy always overcomes the negative! It has in the past!"

Sonic shook his head, eyebrows hooding angrily around scared green irises. "This isn't the past. Back up out of the way."

He could only believe that Tails listened to him. When the robot struck, he leapt out of the way, letting the huge hand strike where he had been. Somehow in the brief span of the attack Eggman managed to alter the robot's trajectory, letting its hand crunch into the nearby wall instead of the door.

It crumbled as rock broke. But beyond it was only more rock. It wouldn't give way.

Sonic's insides twisted up with adrenaline. That had been his only chance of getting out of here. Eggman would be smarter than to strike that close to the door again. He had no choice but to fight right here and now.

And he was alone. No one else could come in this area, and he could not use the Master Emerald's power. Not while it was Eggman's.

Even the energy of a Chaos Drive had given him a hard time. The Chaos Emerald's hold would have been infinitely more dangerous; the Master Emerald, utterly inescapable.

Sonic had a resilient mind. But even he did not want to push the envelope that much.

He wondered if Eggman even realized… even knew how much power he had. What he could do with that energy. As far as Sonic knew, the answer was still no. The doctor was probably only using the Master Emerald's power to better his chance of winning, not to control Sonic or anyone else. Surely Eggman truly _had _ditched that idea… Surely he still didn't _know_…

But Sonic didn't want to find out the hard way. Just in case.

"Sonic, you have to get out of there! Listen to me – I don't know why you can't use it, but you can't fight him like that! You just can't!"

…Then again, what was the hard way and what was the easy way anymore?

Sonic almost responded "No choice," but halted himself as he drew the breath. It _was_ a choice. Everything was a choice. He had chosen to stop Eggman. He had chosen that way a long time ago… and he would see it through.

He chose to fight back. It was worth it to fight back.

Hands in fists at his sides, Sonic walked forward. Eggman saw him and laughed.

"I'd listen to your friend if I were you! What do you think you're going to do? You're just…" Eggman peered down at him, laughter fading enough for him to talk clearly. "You're just a normal little hedgehog."

Sonic glared fiercely, a slight grin residing in there somewhere, as he came to a stop right across from Eggman's massive robot. Waiting. Ready. "Chaos energy or no Chaos energy," he said, "I have never been normal."

Taking his stance as invitation, Eggman struck out again. Sonic, again fully expecting it, jumped straight up to get out of the way. He smirked as he landed – _How's that for normal? – _and looked back to the mad scientist again. "Is that all you've got?"

"Of course not. I'll be only too glad to show you by example. Now please…" he paused to reach down towards the controls in his hovercraft, drawing back a hand from the third set of limbs – limbs that were lighter, sharper, and presumably… faster. "Fight me like you mean it."

"If I didn't know better I'd say you were actually trying to hurt me," Sonic mocked as the metal giant's fingers curled into a fist.

"Oh of course not." Eggman chuckled darkly. "This is only _practice_."

Sonic leapt back, very familiar with that tone and knowing Eggman would act on the threat woven into those words. Only because of preemptive action did he avoid the strike. It whizzed past him like lightning – at a speed even _he _would have a hard time reacting to since he wasn't in an environment that exactly encouraged speed. But Eggman's robot was mechanical, unlike him. It didn't need an open environment to get momentum.

If he tried to fight this fight the normal way, Eggman would get the upper hand very, _very _fast. Sonic realized he had no idea what even one strong blow from those attacking arms could do. It was backed by the most powerful kind of energy, and he had no defense.

Still, Sonic had to grin at the surprise on the scientist's face that he had dodged. He had clearly expected to land that hit, but since the robot had only struck air, it was stumbling clumsily trying to right itself. "Heya doc," the hedgehog called, "that was only practice!"

"_Sonic!_" wailed his younger brother again from the other side of the door. The blue blur's ears shot up, hearing the intensity of the cry, and he backed up to the door again while Eggman was still recovering.

"What's wrong, bud?"

"This!" Sonic heard Tails's hands smack against the door. "All of this! You're going to get killed, Sonic! You're going to get hurt, and I can't… I _can't…_"

"Bro, this is just another…"

"_No it's not!_ This has _never _been just another day!" Tails was pounding harder on the door, each metallic vibration going with his desperate words. "I'm sick of _waiting_, I'm sick of _wondering_, I'm sick of feeling… _so… helpless!_"

"Tails…" There was nothing reassuring Sonic could say. Right here, right now, Tails _was _helpless. But then… so was he. "We can't give up, Tails… come on, buddy, don't give up! It's not over yet!"

"That's the problem!" The kit cried. His voice was so close that Sonic knew they were inches apart, the door the only thing between them. "It's _not _over yet! And it needs to be over! This is enough… it's _too _much…"

Sonic's heart broke as he heard Tails's voice hitch with crying. He suddenly wanted nothing more than to break down the door, pick up his brother in his arms, and run. Run and run like they would never stop, until they were somewhere far away from all this…

It was a fleeting moment. He remembered all it had taken to get this far, from everyone. Himself, Tails, their friends, the prisoners. He had no desire to call it quits now. Their triumphs and their failures alike were his insurance against whatever would come his way. It couldn't all be for nothing. He would fight until the end.

He just wished Tails could see that too. It was the most horrible feeling in the world, hearing his little brother stifling tears like that.

"I know," he heard himself say. "I know. But we're going to get all of this over as fast as we can, okay?"

Tails murmured a devastated okay – a word that still spoke of hope and trust, even if it was reluctant. Sonic reminded himself that just because Tails was upset didn't mean the fox was giving up. After all, the blue blur had been in that place before – that place where everything was simply too much.

Sometimes you had to bend to keep from breaking.

Xxx

Weak with anguish, Tails could barely keep himself standing, hands clinging to the door he had hit repeatedly a minute ago. To be trapped on the outside while the one dearest to him was in a losing fight – it was the worst feeling in the world. And one he was way too familiar with now. He couldn't handle any more of that feeling. He was so scared, so paralyzed with what was happening, that he simply _needed _it to end just as much as he needed his own heart to beat.

He didn't know what to do with himself. In his mind he was seeing images of what would happen. Sonic fighting against a machine _way _too strong for him, and getting beat to a pulp while Eggman sneered down in satisfaction…

That Sonic wouldn't give up until the very end was no comfort to the young fox. If anything… it made it worse.

He wanted nothing more than for Sonic to find a way around this situation. They didn't have to surrender, didn't have to give up… just find a workaround. Just escape until they found a way to _match _Eggman. From years of always having the choice, it was immediately where Tails's mind went: _get out of there_. But this time, against everything they had known before, there was no out.

Or at least, everything _he _had known before. Sonic had been in an abundant amount of situations with no out lately. One of them lasted over two months.

Suddenly the fox felt horribly ignorant, which only served to strengthen his sadness and fear.

Left raw, finding no comfort from his own thoughts and empty self-assurances, Tails tried to think of what Sonic himself would say.

_We can't change what's here, but we decide how to handle it. We'll just have to do the best we can!_

Yeah. Something like that. Gulping down an unvoiced cry, Tails put his forehead against the door and closed his eyes, trying to support Sonic's drive to fight and hoping with all his heart that things would somehow be okay.

As he listened to the chaos ensue, he did the only thing he could.

He waited. Waited for his brother to come back.

Xxx

Sonic ran up a slanted rock and turned around to face his opponent, trying to gauge when to move.

Eggman had gotten the robot moving again and was coming after him fast. The strike followed with a lot more speed than he expected and he had to rush to curl up and attack. Without having a running start, though, there was no way to get the speed he needed to land his own attack. Not before being struck himself.

The fist came in an arc and intersected his straight path with an anticlimactic thud.

You couldn't receive a hit like that and not feel it, but Sonic turned with it as though he had already factored it into his plans, uncurling and following the momentum the strike gave him. He landed behind a crystal structure not far away, skidding messily. When he stopped, he ignored the pounding sensation lingering from the hit and got back up, leaning against the structure for support.

For whatever reason, Sonic was immensely relieved. Good to get that blow out of the way. He had gotten hit by the faster hands, and… wasn't dead. Now he knew – knew he had a chance. The ice was broken.

_Along with a rib or two, _he thought to himself. That wasn't really the case of course; it would have hurt a lot worse had that actually happened. Still, that side was sensitive from previous fights and he made a mental note to be a little more careful. Gathering his breath, he jogged from where he had landed and behind a taller rock, hiding himself for a moment, recovering and trying to think of what he could do. He heard the H-series boss stomping towards where he had been, smashing the crystals in its path. A few chunks came flying at him. He picked up one of them that looked like a long piece of quartz.

It fit perfectly in his large hands. Emerald eyes narrowed in the dark.

_This could be fun…_

In the moment of distraction, the robot jumped over his hiding spot and landed right in front of him. Eggman had that sadistic smile on his face. Sonic chuckled once through heavy breathing, tightened his grip on the chunk of crystal, and leaped.

Loud, high-pitched smashing sounds echoed throughout the huge cave as he rammed it repeatedly into one of the shoulders, swinging it back and forth like a sword.

One arm broke off, spinning and clattering on the floor. Knowing better than to press his luck, Sonic got away and hopped up on another chunk of rock. Meanwhile, Eggman regained his bearings and struck out again. The limb hit his foot as he made to jump again, making him lose his equilibrium.

He curled up in a ball protectively. Once there was something beneath him again, he ran as fast as he could, not looking back, hearing the sound of remarkably fast steps behind him as the robot gave chase…

He tightened his grip on the piece of quartz, readying himself to attack again. Though he didn't turn around to see the robot, he could instinctively feel it, just from years of dealing with Eggman's tactics.

A second later he halted on a dime and jumped once more, letting the robot pass underneath him before it could slow its own inertia. As gravity quickly assisted his descent, he slammed the makeshift weapon down vertically right on the transparent shield of Eggman's hovercraft.

It didn't even crack, but it was worth it to see Eggman jump in fright. His large stomach bounced and jiggled with the motion.

A few more maneuvers later, Sonic managed to get to where the Master Emerald was floating by the far edge of the cave. He had started off intending to take it and get it to safety, but that wouldn't be possible with him locked in. He didn't know how he was going to get out, but until he did, he had to keep Eggman from taking the destructive gem himself.

As he stood still, watching the mutilated humanoid approach, he realized just how difficult it was going to be to do that. Never having fully recovered from the last few fights, he was hurting and exhausted already. And he had barely left a mark on the machine so far. With no other choice, he rooted himself in Eggman's path, taking a defensive stance in front of the Master Emerald.

"Now stop it," Eggman said, halting only to get a word in. "Do you really think you can prevent me from taking the Master Emerald?"

"Haven't heard things like _that _before, have I?"

The man chuckled madly. "Your impulsiveness is so predictable, Sonic. Of course you would step foot in here to try and retrieve this wondrous gem. But now, I will defeat you for the last time. You have no escape."

"Who said anything about escaping?"

Unexpectedly, Eggman fired bullets from the launchers on the machine's second set of limbs. Sonic hopped back quickly. He felt himself run into the Master Emerald behind him. He shoved it out of the way, behind a cluster of stalagmites, and back-flipped in the air, avoiding more bullets. The gem took its light with it as it tumbled, leaving him to dodge in the dark.

Somewhere in his aerial motions he turned himself around, then landed forward and kept running. He made his way quickly around crystal and rock formations, stalagmites and other obstacles. It was a winding path.

A winding path that came to a dead end, he realized with cold dread.

Bullets still chased his heels. Accelerating, he curled into a ball and sped at the mass of rock in his way. It cracked but didn't give. Heart pounding, he repeated the action. Without the speedy momentum he'd had before, it didn't even have an effect.

Just as he uncurled and turned to face his attacker, a bullet skidded hard against the side of his leg, tearing cleanly through the flesh there. Sonic cried out in shock and felt himself going to the ground. He staggered as far away from Eggman as he could on his way down.

Blood spilled onto his white gloves as he clutched at the wound, abandoning his grip on the quartz.

Xxx

"_Sonic!"_ Tails had a white-knuckle grip on the door's lock, screaming out loud enough that his voice was double-toned; shrill and croaky. The blue blur's pain might as well have been his own. What could he do to help? What could Sonic do? What could he even _tell _Sonic to do? Even as he thought he could tolerate this situation no longer, it became worse and worse, always looping back to the same conclusion: he was stuck. They were both stuck. There was no way out. "Eggman!" he wailed desperately. "Please stop! Haven't you done enough already?" The words sounded ridiculous to his own ears. It was pathetic.

But it didn't matter. As far as he could tell, Eggman didn't even hear him.

"N-no…" His hands shook as he raised his communicator. "S-Somebody… _somebody help!_ _Help!_"

Xxx

Sonic was curled in a ball, spikes flaring protectively. He didn't get back up. He barely even moved. A puddle of red was forming slowly under his leg.

It had struck the side of his leg at an angle. It wasn't deep and hadn't hit bone. But it still hurt profoundly.

And Eggman wasn't waiting for him to recover this time…

Mind dizzy with the sensory overload, he tried to scramble further away as the madman neared him, but only found himself against the rock he had tried to break through. He could still feel his foot bouncing against the rough ground as he dragged his injured leg. No bone damage, he noted; no nerve damage… it wasn't a horrendous injury, which meant this wasn't over yet…

_As if it would be._

Eggman pressed a button and made the android punch straight out at him with a closed fist. Sonic rolled out of the way just in time, and the attack hit the rock instead. The crack split further and then gave completely. Chunks of stone collapsed down towards them.

_Oh for the love of Chaos_…

Sonic didn't know whether to be angry or grateful. But he knew he had to get out of the way _right now_.

Wincing, he forced himself to his feet and climbed the debris that Eggman's attack had just created. At first it was agonizing, but endorphins quickly came to his aid. He had to fight this thing, and his body knew it just as well as his mind. Consequences were secondary.

Once at the peak of the pile of rock, he scuttled down the other side in a mixture of sliding and climbing, trying to use his arms as much as he could. He landed heavily on his good leg at the bottom, ascertaining his balance before breaking into a run without reservation despite the lingering pain.

It was only a wound. That it had been caused by a bullet didn't matter, he told himself; it hadn't hit deeply and hadn't touched anything crucial. So it was only a regular wound. He could handle it. Mind over matter.

Increasing speed, Sonic looked around, squinting in the dark. He knew his battlefield a little better now, and was able to make a path for himself long enough to gain ground.

When the clanking of the Eggman android could no longer be heard behind him, he came to a halt and crouched down behind a chunk of granite. Blood still dripped from the aggravated bullet wound, so he pulled his sock cuff up higher and tried to put pressure on it. The whole area began to ache and throb vaguely, but everything within him was blocking out the full brunt of it.

Breathing heavily and deeply, Sonic tried to refocus himself and get ready for another try.

Xxx

When nobody answered Tails's call on the communicator, he felt for an irrational moment that his entire world was closing in. Everything, everyone seemed so far gone. He felt worse than almost any other time in his life. Not getting any response almost seemed almost insignificant compared to how he already felt.

Nevertheless, when Amy finally responded in a worried voice, his spirits lifted just slightly; more than he thought they could have.

"What's wrong, Tails?"

"Where is everyone? I thought nobody was gonna hear me, and this is serious!"

"There's still a lot of commotion!" the girl explained. "The Egg Carrier 2 is still nearby, and it's noisy, and…" she cut off. "Are you okay? Is Sonic okay?"

"I don't know anymore…" Tails said only as he realized it. He hadn't heard Sonic say or do anything else. He swallowed. "I just don't know what to do! He's going to lose, Amy! Eggman's here, and Sonic's hurt…"

"What? What's that creep doing there?" Amy's voice changed entirely.

"I don't know, but it doesn't _matter!_ You have to help me! I need to talk to Knuckles, and…"

"He's still on the fortress!" Amy interrupted. "But he should be coming down any second – I'll get him for you…"

"I just… I need him right now, Amy! We can't let Eggman win!" He paused. "And we c-can't let Sonic lose…"

"Don't even think like that!" Amy snapped, making the fox jump. "Sonic has made it through so much, and he will make it through this too! You just be there for him, Tails. You're doing great. We _are _going to sort this out."

"You… you think so?"

"I know so. You were right before, when you said Sonic would be okay. He always is. And this time will be no different. We must believe!"

Xxx

Sonic was crouched down, listening to the metal monstrosity quickly nearing. His reflexes were ready when he first caught sight of its large foot land near his hiding spot. Not delaying, he bolted out and took its feet out from under it. Eggman yelped in surprise, the fall jarring his hovercraft enough to make him bang his head on the shield.

Sonic managed to suppress a chuckle as he proceeded to spin dash at the monstrosity. He spun over himself again and again, grinding his spikes into the nearest arm. The metal screeched and then surrendered, indenting with Sonic's insistent attack and bending at an unnatural angle. It was one of the bullet launchers. It would be doing no more launching today.

Unfortunately it wasn't only bullets he had to worry about.

Sonic got too confident for the briefest of moments, daring to take off another of the bot's arms without considering the impending counterattack. He was successful. But Eggman did not hesitate to seize the opportunity.

A beam of Chaos power shot at Sonic from the lower weapons and only narrowly missed. He still felt the burn as it charred a patch of fur on the side of his face, and backed off fast. The sound of residual electricity cackled in the air as it impacted the far wall.

The whole room lit up vividly, brighter than either of them had ever seen it and warmer than they had ever felt it. In spite of it, Sonic couldn't stop the chill running over his body at just how close that devastating beam had been.

"Heh, I see you've gotten tougher," the hedgehog said with a grin in place, his expression somewhat less tired and pained than his body. "Your opponents appreciate the challenge."

He fully expected – and intended – for Eggman to continue the assault, preparing himself to take advantage of the doctor's angry irritation and attack back at the same time. Eggman, however, returned his expression with a smug smile.

"You've been through quite the struggle lately, haven't you, dearest Sonic?"

"Quit saying 'dearest,' will you? Is that the best way you can mock someone?"

"Surrender the Emerald, dearest Sonic, and your struggles will be no more. Life will finally go back to normal for you, after all these months. Dearest Sonic."

"I told you, I'm not normal." Sonic breathed heavily. "What's normal, anyway?"

"The freedom, Sonic, the freedom," Eggman had a look of mock-sympathy on his face as he answered the rhetorical question. "Oh, of course you had to save the day every now and then. But it was a choice back then, and that's why you liked it. When you weren't busy, you would roam the world, seeking some ridiculous new experience. That was your normal. Meka Tower? We both know that wasn't your type of adventure, Sonic – don't even try to hide it. You couldn't stand the lack of freedom."

"Don't tell me what my type of adventure is," Sonic snapped in a low voice, emerald eyes glistening fiercely. "I was free all along."

"Please. What's that supposed to mean?"

"Someone had to fight from inside that place. Someone had to give those people hope, and break those scanners, and defeat some of the androids that were capturing everyone. So if I had to go back and do it all again… if I had the _freedom _to change my mind, I wouldn't change a thing." Sonic held Eggman's gaze, expression full of fury and meaning. "Sorry to disappoint ya."

"…Are you done with your moment?"

"Who asked _who _for elaboration, here?"

Eggman sighed, leaning on his hand as though bored. "Well, I suppose you have answered my question sufficiently. We're done here. I'll be taking the Master Emerald now. Step aside and you will avoid the drastic consequences there would be otherwise."

As the doctor spoke, Sonic realized that he was in fact very near the Master Emerald again. It was mere yards away, where he had shoved it a few minutes ago. Their fight had taken them away from it and then back to it again. He stepped closer to it almost instinctively. "You can't get past me."

"Yes I can, dearest Sonic, and we both know it. _Look _at yourself, bruised and bloodied. I'm doing _you _a favor by offering you a compromise."

"Yeah, well, I guess compromise isn't my thing!"

Eggman shook his head. "That will be your loss, my friend. And it will be in vain. You see, even if you refuse, you have already lost. With your current condition, especially taking your recent fights into account, it is clear you will not succeed fighting this ridiculous battle. I will take the Master Emerald; I need only go right over there and _do _it. So why even bother when you can accept my bargain and make it so much easier on yourself?"

"Don't you know _anything_? I mean, why bother coughing up that speech now after everything that's happened these past few months? If you're so certain of yourself, why not just finish me off now and take it?"

"I might ask you a similar question, Sonic. Why not, after all these years, finish _me _off? You've had so many opportunities. "Perhaps you want to 'do the right thing' by not killing me? Yet even that's arguable, because it can't be right to continue to risk the safety of the world by letting me live."

"Guess I'm not completely noble after all. We're both kind of selfish, aren't we, Eggy?" Sonic asked with a grin, but inside his mind was turning the doctor's words over, trying to justify himself and explain the question away. He realized he couldn't. He cared about other people's well-being substantially, and wanted the best for those around him, but… he loved adventure, too. He didn't ever want to be reduced to living a 'normal' life.

And deep inside, he didn't know if he had what it took to kill. So he didn't.

Besides, he had always done what it took to make sure Eggman couldn't have his way. The doctor had never won, even if they did keep fighting him repeatedly…

Heart sinking, Sonic remembered the people who had fallen from the Egg Carrier 2. People who wouldn't have lost their lives if he and his team had finished off Eggman before. He vowed to himself he would not let something like that happen again… no matter what it took.

Eggman did not answer his question, but moved within fighting range. Sonic saw the laser cannons charging. "Last chance to change your mind," the maniacal scientist murmured. "You really might as well."

"Hah, do your worst! Give me something I can be proud of defeating!"

The lasers fired. Sonic was a blur as he dove away.

He started looking back at Eggman in midair, wanting to see the doctor's reaction to his lightning-fast dodge. But before his eyes could even complete the transition, he was grasped by one huge hand and thrown into the rock wall. He fell to the ground, hitting the rocks. His knees stung.

Eggman had anticipated him avoiding those lasers.

"Uhh… ow… heh, usually your bark is worse than your bite."

"You asked for it, hedgehog!"

"I did," Sonic conceded, peeling himself off the ground. "But now I can give it _back_!"

He spin dashed again and aimed for the robot's torso area. The distance Eggman had thrown him with that last attack gave him a huge advantage; by the time he made contact with his target, he had picked up a lot of speed. The metal dented as he grinded into it hard. Wires could be heard snapping beneath the surface. He redirected his attack and sawed into one of the clawed arms with his quills, damaging it beyond the point of functionality.

The robot smacked him away by one of its remaining arms. He threw out his hands to break his fall.

"Stupid hedgehog."

Sonic got up. Smoke was ascending from Eggman's android, but it wasn't down for the count yet, he could tell. Nowhere near it.

_Neither am I!_

Wanting to stall for time, Sonic responded to the doctor's insult, trading words instead of blows. "What, worried this 'pointless' battle might wind up getting me somewhere like it usually does?" he taunted. Inside he was trying to pull himself together. He was, for once, running out of stamina. "That why you're so bent on getting me to back off?"

Eggman smiled. "I'm merely trying to prevent you from securing a much worse fate for yourself."

"I don't exactly trust you regarding my fate, doc," Sonic remarked. He turned his head, letting his eyes flit to the Master Emerald briefly. It was _right there_… right where he needed it… "What do you want with the Master Emerald anyway? Meka Tower is free, so it's not like your first plan would work too well, even if you _could _control everyone with Chaos energy."

Might as well find out all he could first, Sonic mused. There had to be a reason Eggman still wanted it… even though the hedgehog was about to take the threat out of that reason himself.

_Heh, Knuckles is gonna kill me… that is, if Eggman doesn't first…_

"Dearest Sonic, that is why I had the Egg Carrier 2 underground, and why it is currently holding the vast majority of prisoners on it. I devised such a plan just in case I could not contain everyone in Meka Tower, that way I'd still…"

"No!" the hedgehog hissed. "Don't you ever trap anyone like that again, you hear me?"

"Or _what_?" Eggman taunted with a self-assured smile.

Sonic smiled back, then, not hesitating, curled over and launched himself directly at the Master Emerald.

"_Nooo!_" Frantic, Eggman extended one of the top limbs, the Chaos energy letting it lash out just as fast as Sonic, and again blocked his path. Sonic rammed into the thick metal rod that was the arm, damaging it, making it vibrate and ring loudly enough to pin his ears to his head. His immense speed was immediately reversed as he bounced backward off it.

At first he threw his hands out and tried to stop skidding, but the ground was slick with the residue of the flood and he couldn't slow down. Instead of working against it, he worked with it, curling up again and speeding up his momentum. The path veered upward and he soared off it like it was a ramp, arcing back around toward the robot and hitting right near the cockpit. It jolted with a metallic clink, jerking Eggman around violently.

The doctor righted himself and fixed his skewed glasses. "You _dare_…?"

"As if you haven't attacked _me _directly before!" Sonic glared. He wanted to try shattering the Master Emerald again – that way neither of them would be able to use it. But Eggman had now placed himself right in its path.

"I've attacked you very directly, haven't I, hedgehog?" the madman said with a hint of a threat in his voice, looking serious now as he made his robot ready its weapons and held his stance in front of the gem. "You will not get to try that maneuver again. Do not test me! You have already lost!" Eggman's voice boomed throughout the dark cave. "_I _am the winner today, Sonic; the Eggman Empire _will _rise… and this is over!"

"Stop holding onto victories you don't even _have! _I don't care what you can say, do, or _be_..." Too fast for the eye to follow, Sonic darted at the massive android, and slammed himself into it rapidly. "You will never…" He curled up into a ball, spinning his body and those rigid quills as fast as he could. "_Ever…_" He struck again, taking off another limb and rebounding away fast, "…_Stop me!_"

It was a moment that should have ended with victory. But no sooner had the hedgehog landed and shifted his weight to his better leg when Eggman fired the only remaining Chaos cannon, the sparkling electric beam filling the space between the two of them almost instantaneously.

Xxx

Tails slowly collapsed, hands coming up to cover his ears, and finally broke down.

Xxx

Quote next chapter. We're not done with this scene yet. ;) I guess that leaves me with very little to say this time, other than don't forget to look at the new art! Thanks for reading, and let me know whatcha think! I'll see ya next time.


	36. Chapter 35: Purely for Myself

DanceDream: Just to get this out here before I forget… Knuckles is on the Egg Carrier 2 at the time the fight is happening, not in Meka Tower. ;) That would be a bit odd if he was back there. As for the rest, heh, I tend to react similarly to cliffhangers… I certainly don't mind eliciting a reaction like that! xD Yay eagerness! Yeah, Eggman's changed a lot, but at the same time he's so… out-there sometimes that you can almost pin it to his character rather than different writing. I prefer Adventure-era Eggman myself, but I did like the touches of the clever humor he has in Colors and such (lol, his lines in the background of the levels). Wish they'd merge them both! xD But I digress. Yeah, I suppose Sonic is the priority here, everything else can be answered later. Thankfully this chapter is of the same mind. ;) Though all that other stuff will be addressed at some point here. As for that hit… *pushes chapter at you* :3 I'll shut up and let ya find out! Thanks for your comments!

Phantom: Hey, glad you think so! More is on the way; hope you like the new chapter! Thanks!

MsArtsy: Yeah, that's a good way to think of it! Good for you. ;) And you're welcome. Thank YOU for reading and commenting!

Misy: Not sure if you've gotten this far, but I'll try to explain here anyway. :) Eggman's brief hesitation there is elaborated upon later, in Chapter 22: Prophecy, in a way that I think makes sense with the doc's character. The short and somewhat more generic version, I suppose, is I don't think it'd be believable to have Eggman do such a thing to Sonic without any sort of conscience whatsoever… so like you said, he probably was feeling a little bad, momentarily.

x

Hey guys, coincidentally enough we have more SR-inspired art, whose artists I need to plug! Two readers wound up collaborating for this one. **Kitsuneaku** over on deviantart has drawn a moment from one of this story's darkest scenes (yep we're going there), colored by **Sonicspeed5**. Now, the link's on my profile like the others, but do be warned, it isn't watered down. (…If you know what I mean.) Don't forget to check out their other art as well, it's really good!

Now, back to the presently occurring part of the story, time to see where the rest of this battle leads. Here ya go!~

CHAPTER 35: PURELY FOR MYSELF

"S-Sonic… Sonic…"

Tails felt cold. He heard himself repeating his brother's name. At that moment, no sound came from the other side of the door. He wasn't sure he would know if it did. Sonic's scream echoed too loudly in his mind.

"Tails, what's wrong?"

He lurched as the guardian's voice finally came through. Finally. When it was already going to be too late.

"Kn-Knuckles…!" He fumbled raising his hand to stammer into the communicator. "You have to… you have to come here! Sonic needs help, I don't know what to do, he's getting hurt and I…!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Tails, you need to calm down, I can't…"

"C… C-Calm _down_? Aren't you listening to me?" Tears streamed down Tails's face, so deep was the agony he felt for his friend. He had the same sense of desperate protection that he'd had for Sonic on Space Colony ARK, even though Sonic was normally the protective one. He wanted nothing more than to pull Sonic out of this dangerous situation, and say it was going to be fine.

Chest aching, he remembered collapsing into Sonic's arms when they saw each other again, remembered Sonic's wordless but palpable confession that he was ready for this battle to be over. He wanted to be in his brother's arms again, both of them reassuring each other it would be okay. They had both known, even then, that the battle wasn't over. They had both known there was more difficulty coming. But now that they were right in the middle of it, it was worse than the fox could ever have imagined.

It hurt. He was so upset that it physically hurt. He sunk down to the ground completely, gasping between sobs. He wanted this battle to be over too. He couldn't take this anymore.

Tails had seen his brother in many a fight. Even serious ones like this. He was a big kid; he could normally handle it. But right now, his threshold was still low from all that had happened before… from being separated from his best friend and knowing only the worst of his situation. He couldn't even wrap his mind around it all anymore. It was just too much, and he was too tender.

It was all he could do to cling to the little hope he had left.

Knuckles took a deep breath. Tails heard him exhale over the communicator and could only perceive it as impatience. He wanted to scream. "Tails," Knuckles said a lot more carefully than the fox had expected. "I need you to stay calm and try to talk to me here. Just explain what's going on. Okay? I don't even know where you are."

Wiping one arm across his face, Tails tried to stop sniffling. "Sonic and I tried to get the Master Emerald for you… for all of us. But Eggman closed my door and I can't get back in. Sonic's inside and—"

"Eggman? I thought Eggman was—"

"Piloting the ship, I know!" Tails cried. "I don't understand either! All I know is he's here, and he's winning, and Sonic is going to get killed in this room if something doesn't happen fast!" _If he's not already… _"Knuckles – please! You need to come here! You're the only one who might be able to break down this door!"

"Tails… I don't have a plane to take like you did. I'm at least an hour away on foot!"

The young fox knew that in his heart, but had wanted more than anything for Knuckles to have an idea. They didn't _have _an hour. _Sonic _didn't have an hour. Horror settled deeply in him as he realized the guardian was just as lost as he was.

Still, hearing Knuckles mention the plane gave him an idea. He needed a way to open the door, stop Eggman, _and _get the Master Emerald. It was a big chance to take – one he _hadn't _taken up until this point, not only because he hadn't thought of it but because he realized Sonic probably wouldn't want him to unless it was completely necessary.

Now it was necessary. It wasn't promising, and could just as easily make things worse… but maybe, just _maybe…_

Before he could finish the thought, Sonic made another noise from inside the room. A groan that conveyed pain. And effort. Like he was trying to win still. Tails couldn't find it in him to be happy Sonic was still trying. Not right now, not when Eggman had given him a chance to compromise.

_As if _that _would actually have helped anything_

But right then Tails didn't care. For once – for a slight moment – the fox thought he would rather have the fight end and let Eggman win than hear what he was hearing right now.

It was a horrible sound – one that he never, ever wanted to hear out of his older brother again.

Then he remembered himself a little. Remembered just who he was and just who Sonic was. Fear ignited into rage. Body still quivering with his quiet, angry cries, Tails turned around and began running back uphill as fast as he could, hoping against hope that his only idea would work.

Xxx

For Eggman, the battle had become just as much about defeating Sonic as it was about gaining possession of the Master Emerald. He laughed, laughed at his own advantage and winning position.

Sonic lie on the ground in agony, eyes closed, doubled over as he held his abdomen. The electrolaser had stunned him momentarily – but it didn't even matter. He would have been stunned to stillness anyway from the impact alone. He writhed, breathing hard and shaking, because the pain needed an outlet it didn't have. Hotness burned against the skin on his tender stomach as if the laser was still searing against it.

Despite his momentary gloating, Eggman did not continue to watch Sonic until he got back up. Not this time.

He had had his goals rubbed in his face by that hedgehog one too many times… he wouldn't risk it again. He couldn't take it anymore. He was insane with rage and determination… with Chaos energy that had nothing to do with his powered-up robot…

The robot picked Sonic up by a leg. Eggman had it hold Sonic there in front of the barrier for a moment so he could look at him. Somewhere in his daze Sonic had the mental capacity to refuse eye contact and try to escape.

"Have it your way, hedgehog," Eggman muttered, and the robot tossed Sonic away like a toy. The hedgehog came back down on a jutting rock, body folding over it momentarily before he finished his journey limply to the ground. He had hit it more with his back than his front… but the sheer force of impact didn't let his quills offer much protection.

"…Oh dear," the doctor said mildly, amusement covering what might have been some trace of genuineness, "I didn't even mean to do that! What a shame."

Sonic tried to swallow air. His mouth was open, seeking but not finding, as if his body didn't know how to work anymore.

For a moment that seemed a lot longer than it actually was, he laid there, motionless save for the dangerous quivering caused by immense physical stress. Something was cracked… and somewhere in the background of his foggy conscience, he knew he was lucky he was alive to feel the pain. There were stalagmites in here; rocks much more dangerous than the one he had just been thrown at.

As someone who had been fighting for years, Sonic was instinctively aware of two things. One was that he needed to stay down and gather himself for a moment. Wait for his body to deal with the pain of his injuries so he could function. The other was that he needed to get back up. There was no _time _to stay down.

Eggman's robot approached him and grasped him around the torso, unintentionally squeezing the area that had made contact with the rock. He was suddenly able to gasp in air again, and screamed. It came out like a convoluted gurgle. On a primal level it felt a million times better than not being able to pull in a breath. But on every other level his body was protesting. He could see nothing and hear nothing, even though his eyes and ears were fine. There was only sensation. His nerves felt raw.

It faded mercifully fast and gave way to numb adrenaline. He tried to get away.

Of all his opponents… this was the worst robot he had ever been up against. Never in his life had he been this far on the losing side of the spectrum… despite how many enemies he had fought, he many severe situations he had been in…

And it wasn't the Death Egg. Wasn't Chaos. Wasn't Biolizard. It was only an eight-foot-tall robot. A robot packed dense with the energy of the Master Emerald. It was still glowing vividly. Only a small portion of its energy could even _fit _into that robot compared to how much there was.

Despite that, the robot was on its last leg. It was damaged and dented, smoke rising more thickly from it than before. But Sonic was on his last leg too. One way or another it was all going to be over in moments.

The android giant lifted him higher now, the hand still clasped tightly around his middle, and held him there. There was nothing else it could do, either. Its weapons were useless.

"Let me _go_," Sonic managed, still dizzy from the impact. He struggled against the robot's firm grip, the attempt starting off groggy but increasing to something more determined and focused as he kicked and punched and pried.

"That's right! Don't give up, you stubborn blue rat, you're making this all the more fun!" Eggman was mocking, shouting with so much force that his voice rang menacingly throughout the spacey cave. "_Fight me!_"

Sonic's eyes were wide, his mind having swung back into full focus once more. He tasted coppery bitterness of blood in his mouth from a bleeding lip. Bruises covered him, but it was pure exhaustion and the robot's tight grip that was defeating him. His ribs and stomach screamed in protest. He had to get free of its grasp. If he couldn't do it now, it was all over.

There were no other functioning limbs left on the robot now. Sonic knew Eggman could not attack him again. But the remaining hand, the one holding him up in the air, was trying to literally squeeze him to death. He was scared for his life as the pressure became tighter on his ribs. He couldn't resist it. It was too strong.

He wanted to scream out to Tails, if the fox was still there – scream to get away. To go back to the others and tell them what had happened so that they might have a chance. But it was too late for that. The robot's grip left him no room. His breathing was shallow and strained; he couldn't get enough air to shout as loud as he would need to.

Refusing to give up yet, he curled his knees upward towards him, trying to wedge them into the giant hand to give himself leverage… even though there was nowhere near enough room left for leverage.

Desperate, he looked over at the Master Emerald one last time and wondered what if… but did nothing. The risk wasn't worth it. If he was going to go, he was going to go knowing he was his own. Not Eggman's. Being under his control would be worse than death, for him and for everyone.

"What did I tell you, pincushion?" The madman shouted, angry and triumphant at once. "Why didn't you accept the compromise?"

Suddenly there was a new sound nearby. It was the door at the mouth of the cave, grunting loudly as it slid open. Eggman and Sonic both looked at it. In the doorframe was the Cyclone, Tails sitting inside, looking frantically furious. Without hesitation he fired at the center of Eggman's robot. Before the projectiles even struck, he fired again, over and over, screaming and holding nothing back. Sonic could feel the impacts reverberating as they plowed into the robot. Not one bullet or beam strayed to hit him. Tails's aim was precise, and the fox knew it.

The robot tried to stay upright but continued to stagger backwards. It was going towards a wet area that had still hadn't gone away after the storm. Tails was unrelenting, teeth gritted in rage, mashing the attack buttons repeatedly. A collection of missiles and powerful beams struck the monstrosity all at once, and it fell backward in the shallow water and screeched along the ground, finally knocked off that last figurative leg-to-stand-on. Somewhere on the way down its flailing arm let go of Sonic, who went flying in the same general direction and landed on nearby ground with a thud.

Throughout the whole battle, Eggman had taunted the robot's similarities to the H-series. Now, one last similarity came to light as the robot lie in the puddle, sparking and spazzing: the vast majority of the H-series was _not _waterproof.

Feet away, Sonic managed to roll over and push himself up on an elbow. He shot a glance over to the disabled Eggman. The ridiculous smugness on the hedgehog's exhausted face clearly said in response to his question; "That's why."

Then everything gave at once, and he collapsed completely, landing on his front with a content grunt.

Tails's gaze shifted over to him from Eggman at that very instant, and his heart plummeted into his stomach at the sight of his best friend lying in a bruised heap. "…Sonic? You okay?" he asked quietly, unsteadily. Sonic did not respond. "Oh no…" Feeling sick, Tails climbed out of the plane. Remembering why they were here – what Sonic had fought for – he clumsily heaved the Master Emerald into the back of the plane. The same energy that allowed it float also made it lighter to lift, and it went in easily.

Heart pounding, turned back around, bent down, and carefully lifted Sonic, using his tails to propel them both back into the Cyclone. Then he started the engine as fast as he could and got it walking. He didn't know what to say or do, only that they needed to get out of here before Eggman's robot got back up. Suddenly numb to fear – because he had to be – he marched the machine back through the tunnel wordlessly, pressing a button so the door slammed down behind him. The Cyclone's wings, while retracted, scraped the narrow walls on the way. It was obnoxious as it had been when he was on his way, and the paint was probably being torn away, but he didn't care. None of it mattered.

When out of the tunnel, he quickly changed the machine back to its plane form and took off, heading for Station Square. He nearly jumped when Sonic addressed him a few minutes later, and then cautious relief seeped into his system.

"H-how'd you do it?" the hedgehog strained.

"I… I went and got the Tornado and my tools," Tails replied, sounding frightened and uncharacteristically serious. "It's my door. I figured if I made it work to begin with, I could make it not work. I had to mess with the lock's mechanics for a while to get it to open. But… that doesn't matter right now."

"Tails… you're a life saver."

The fox nodded solemnly, knowing the truth of this. Deep inside he wanted to throw his arms around Sonic and cry more. But he was all out of tears, and too deeply shaken, to do much other than stare ahead.

Still, a few silent moments later, he couldn't but ask one thing. "Sonic… is it over?"

"What?"

"Is it over," he repeated, a quiet demand, "is this battle over? Are you… are we safe again? Can we go home soon?"

"Tails…" Sonic tried to coax a deep breath into his aching body. Things you took for granted, like breathing and talking, were difficult. His life wasn't threatened, but he was in a lousy state nonetheless. one that he realized had affected him profoundly in the fight even before he had been hit by the beam. It wasn't severe injury as much as it was sheer exhaustion from the constant battle that life had become. His body was at his threshold even if his mind was not. "I don't know, bud," he finally said. "I really don't know."

"I should have done what I did a lot sooner." Tails sighed sadly. "I didn't even think about using the Cyclone until I talked to Knuckles. I wish I had."

"You delivered the last blow to that robot, at the perfect timing," Sonic explained between breaths. "If you had done that any earlier, Eggman probably would have been able to total you too, and… and _neither _of us would have been able to save the Master Emerald."

"I'm sorry," the fox said.

"What? But Tails, I just said it's not your…"

"I'm sorry that all of this has happened," Tails said. "It's not fair, Sonic. It shouldn't be like this."

"Hey…" Sonic said, and gingerly sat up a little straighter, one hand hanging onto the Master Emerald for support. "Life happens. I wasn't expecting this to all be smooth sailing, bud. And finally, we're getting closer. We have the Master Emerald again."

"Yeah, that's true."

"Hey Tails," Sonic said, tone becoming a little more alert as he saw the terrain below, "wh-where are you going?"

"To get you to a hospital, duh!"

"What? But I… we have to go back up to the fortress! I can't abandon this now!"

Tails felt a little more confident as his friend's voice gained more foundation. He sounded like he was going to be okay… in a few days or weeks, anyway. It was hard to believe that he hadn't been hurt worse. In the state he was in, Tails was sure he had been hurt. Now he remembered that Sonic had been in a state already, and that sheer fatigue had hindered him more than anything.

But still…

"Is there any way I can reason you out of this?" the fox asked quietly, almost sadly since he knew what the answer would be.

"No."

"But what's left to fight? Eggman's trapped. He's smart enough to hack his way out of there, yeah, but for now he's trapped. All that's left to do for the moment is get the fortress back to the ground, and I can do that."

"What about everyone else? All our friends? I have to make sure they're okay."

"Hey… Sonic?"

"What?"

"Are you keeping something quiet?"

Sonic hesitated, then said thoughtfully, "Tails, do you ever just… get a hunch?"

"It's happened, yeah."

"I just have a hunch. I think… just because Eggman's taken care of for now doesn't mean the whole situation is. He was only the main madman in this whole thing. But what about all the androids? And Chaos Control? And that Knuckles robot or whatever it is?"

"I see," Tails said, relaxing a little, but nevertheless looking reluctant as he said, "Well… okay. I'll head back to the Meka Tower area, but only if you agree to something."

"And that is?"

"Let's land the plane – just for a few minutes – so I can fix you up a bit. I've got a lot of first aid stuff in the storage area. Bandages, stitches, disinfectants, and the like." He saw Sonic inhale a breath to protest, but raised a hand to silence him. "Sonic, maybe you're oblivious to it, but you are actually hurt. And you could use the rest, big time."

"Okay, okay," Sonic muttered. "Fine. It's better than being cooped up in a hospital room for a week or something."

Tails had already made to land the Tornado and was nearing ground. Sonic refrained from wincing as the plane made bumpy contact. Maybe Tails was right; he _was _hurting quite a bit. He didn't tend to notice things like that until someone pointed it out. It was just something he had become used to. When you had to combat evil on a regular basis, often with the rest of the world hanging in the balance, a little discomfort was really quite insignificant.

"What hurts the most?" Tails asked, pulling a first-aid kid out from underneath his seat and joining Sonic in the passenger area.

"The fact that we're sitting here," Sonic mumbled, veiled urgency in his eyes as he looked off in the distance.

"I'm sorry, Sonic, but you're my friend and I'm not gonna let you do anymore fighting like this. Sometimes the people around you can see things that you won't acknowledge," the fox told him, and then added obviously, "like pain."

Sonic snorted and crossed his arms, then grimaced as the action caused his elbow to press on his injured ribs.

"Case in point," Tails said with a gentle smile. "You don't want me to see that. I know. You don't want anyone to see, because you want to be stronger than that. But the thing, Sonic, is we've known each other for so long now. I… I see everything. Just like you always know what I'm thinking and feeling too. So don't hide it. It's not your fault you got hurt, anyway."

The hedgehog looked away, rubbing his nose with a self-conscious chuckle. "Um… thanks, bro."

"So, care to answer my question for real now?"

"…Wha?"

"What hurts?"

"Oh, uh, my leg for sure. Just stings a lot. It's not even deep, but… _ouch_." That seemed to be adequate enough, as Tails's ears went flat when he looked down at the obviously painful injury.

"Ohh… uh, anything else?"

"Uh, my side. For sure. Had an encounter with a rock, and uh, the rock won."

"How hard did you _hit _it?" The fox asked, looking at his torso area.

"That bruise was already there," he quickly explained. "But that definitely didn't help it any. Luckily I think I hit it a little further back…" Sonic gestured to his side, where the blue started. "Though not further back enough for the quills to help much."

Tails looked at him, inwardly questioning the use of the word 'luckily' for such a lousy circumstance, then shook his head and moved on to words more important.

"Sonic… you could still be seriously hurt, or something! We have to—"

"Hey now, we made a deal," Sonic reminded him, trying not to sound too impatient. "Besides, I don't think it's quite _that _bad. I'd know by now. Or I'd be… It just hurts, is all."

"Well… okay. Move your arm out of the way and let me see how bad it is."

Gingerly, Sonic unfolded his arms and rested the obstructing one over the back of the seat. Tails didn't see him take grasp of the material there to keep himself from moving during the fox's inspection.

The injured area was swollen and bruised. Sonic's breath caught in his throat as Tails started pressing gently. The contact was cautious but it still set his nerves ablaze and seemed to radiate. He curled his toes and endured silently and wondered how in the _world _people went to hospitals.

"I'm sorry…" Tails said after a moment, looking uncomfortable as he glanced up at his friend. His ears folded down again. "I know I'm hurting you. I'm really sorry, Sonic, I'll stop. But I think some of them are hurt. I mean, I'm no expert, but…"

"Not much we can do about it now," the hedgehog said a bit tersely. "It could be a lot worse anyway. How about we just worry about what we can actually fix."

"Actually, I can do a little bit about it," Tails said, pulling out a roll of bandage wrapping. He looked at Sonic, eyes gently helpful if not a little shy about attempting to treat his blue friend. "Scoot forward some so I can get around you."

Sonic did, pulling his arm back over the seat and lifting both of them out of the way so Tails could wrap the bandage around his middle.

"I'll have to park the Tornado far away when we get there so the Master Emerald isn't too close to Meka Tower," Tails warned. "Honestly I don't like the idea of even doing that, but Knuckles really wants it back."  
>"It's better with him," Sonic said. "He knows how to use its own energy to make it smaller, remember? So he'll be able to keep it on him. And he's strong enough to fight off just about anything that'd try to take it."<p>

"That's true. Heh, it's kind of funny hearing you defend Knuckles. Usually you're the one he has to be defended _from_."

"Yeah, well, don't you tell him I said anything good about him. Besides, it wasn't for him as much as it was to reassure you."

Tails laughed. "What would I ever do without your reassuring?" he asked humorously. "But anyway, what I was going to say is that since we'll be parked far away, you're going to have to do some walking. Or, actually, I could fly you…"

"No worries, Tails," Sonic said. "I'm pretty sure I can handle _owww_," he groaned as the fox wound the bandaging around him a little more tightly. "Walking, even."

Tails couldn't decide if he was more pleased with Sonic's resilient cooperation or with his own ability to keep a straight face despite how much he wanted to chuckle at the contorted expression on Sonic's. Then he felt bad for wanting to chuckle and bit his lip.

"There, done with this part. That should at least provide some stability until you can get some actual medical attention."

"Fair enough."

"So that's the hard part. I'll do the same with your leg, but with more gauze so it hopefully won't bleed through. Looks like it's not bleeding as bad anymore, anyway!" Tails met Sonic's eyes, finally becoming relieved. "Hey. Are you gonna be okay for the rest of this?"

Sonic chuckled once. "This is the easy part, bro."

"Then, go ahead and sit back, and let me take care of it. We'll be done in no time. Okay?"

The hedgehog nodded. "Fair enough," he said again, and gave his friend a thumbs-up that was returned happily. This wasn't going to take forever after all.

xxx

"Where do you suppose Sonic and Tails are?" Espio asked, turning to the group with skepticism. He looked tired. It wasn't very often that Espio showed anything negative – he saw it as a sign of weakness – but right now he couldn't help it. Not only was he still recovering from the fighting; the chameleon hadn't slept well since he had first infiltrated the tower. "Am I the only one that thinks they should have been back by now?"

Knuckles, Amy, Lucas and Amber all wore a very similar expression as they heard the chameleon's words; one that said they had indeed been thinking the same thing, and hadn't wanted to hear their worries confirmed.

"But we just heard Eggman on the loudspeaker," Lucas said. "He couldn't have gotten to the Master Emerald, could he? Is that what you're worried about?"

"Partially," Espio said. "More so, I'm concerned about the Knuckles doppelganger out there somewhere. If he encountered them, would they hand over the Master Emerald without realizing it is not the real Knuckles catching up with them?"

"That's it, I'm going to find them," Knuckles snapped next to him, quite real and quite infuriated. "Only reason I didn't before was because of Lucas's injury, and because of that damn fence. But now that we're outside it, I have no reason to be mingling around here."

"What about the Egg Carrier 2?" Amy asked. "Most everyone is still up there. And it's still getting higher!"

"What's going on…?" Amber mused quietly, almost to herself. Everyone went quiet, trying to mentally answer this question themselves. No one had an informed enough response to speak aloud.

"We don't know anything," Knuckles said, "aside from that the Master Emerald needs to be kept safe, and that the Egg Carrier 2 needs to be landed. Since there is no way for us to do the latter, I must at least attempt to do the former. I have wasted enough time inside Meka Tower; I will not waste time outside of it as well."

"Wait!" Amy exclaimed, grasping Knuckles's shoulder as he turned to go. "Look! I think I see the Tornado off in the distance."

They all looked. Indeed, a familiar speck of plane was in the sky, growing larger in their vision as it came towards them. Amy ran towards it in spite of the fact that she couldn't exactly fly up to reach it, cheering in joy and relief. Knuckles visibly relaxed and turned back to the rest of the group. Espio looked at him, a question in his eyes.

"It's safe," Knuckles murmured, something coming over his face as he watched the Tornado near. "I can feel its energy. Sonic and Tails did it."

Xxx

"_I have no master, except the wind that blows free." –Sonic, Black Knight_

Xxx

_In the next chapter: Sometimes the biggest challenges are your friends rather than your enemies._

Xxx

Also, before I wrap this up there's one more thing I need to throw at ya: in Chapter 33: Guardian, I added a few thoughts from Sonic regarding what happened with the Egg Carrier 2 that probably warrant being mentioned. This is while they were flying to get the Master Emerald. Feel free to go see it in context if you want, but here it is (and sorry again for the obnoxious chunks of stuff in author notes xD).

_What let his thoughts slow just slightly - though by no means comfortably - was thinking back on what had almost just happened. He wondered if the ship had been leveled again too late. He wondered how many people hadn't made it; wondered if someone he had made eye contact with or smiled at or talked to hadn't made it._

_It was the first time death had presented itself so blatantly. But it wasn't the first time it had been there. He remembered the stories he had heard on the lower levels. The way people's faces had looked. He realized on some level that tragedy had been there all along, though silently. People had been starved, hurt, horribly neglected. Of course not everyone had made it._

_He made his best effort to do what the situation had done for him up until that point: block it out until he could afford the time and mental state to think about it. There was nothing he could do for what had already happened... only for what hadn't happened yet._

…Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed! 'Til next time.


	37. Chapter 36: Worth It

DanceDream: Hey, no worries! You gotta do what you gotta do. I've been busy myself, so I get whatcha mean. Ah, I like the way you put that about the Tails scenes - I kind of wanted those scenes to make the chapter more emotionally-driven alongside the intense fight going on. Hah, Eggman is kinda scary, huh? I liked those examples you mentioned, too – he does do some shocking things now and then. I completely agree about Archie 175; I know _exactly _what one you're talking about, and while I tend to be… picky about the comics I remember finding that one really intense and interesting. And luuulz, the robot not being waterproof; you spotted the irony. I'm… having way too much fun with irony, haha. Not even done with it yet either. xDD And yeah, SOMEONE had to think to get Sonic to safety, and get him help. One can hope that what Tails did will be enough to keep him together for now, lol! And YUS, I'm excited to see Wreck-It Ralph too, especially since there seems to be a reasonable amount of Sonic in it! :D Glad you found the chapter satisfying, and the remaining ones will tie up those loose ends. Thanks very much. C: Oh and I love that song despite how many times I have probably played it over the years. It's still awesome. ;D

MsArtsy97: Heh, I do what I can! ;) Glad to hear that! Thanks, and enjoy the update.

x

Eek. Things have been busy these days. This story has seen quicker updates – and will see quicker updates again really soon. ;) I'm excited for the rest of this and want to get it out there for you guys to read! Forgive me if I have been slow responding to reviews or PMs once again. It really has been kinda chaotic over on this end. ^^; Slowly easing back onto the internet while still trying to get things done and take care of a bit of personal stuff. Would still really love to hear from you guys though, and I'm gonna catch up my side of things once I can. :)

CHAPTER 36: WORTH IT

Amy ran, kicking up sand behind her and getting it in her socks and shoes. She didn't care. All the pink hedgehog cared about was reaching the Tornado… and Sonic.

The biplane had parked a short distance away from Meka Tower, to avoid the Master Emerald being detected, Amy assumed. From where she was, she could see Tails climbing out, followed closely by Sonic. His movements looked more careful than usual, and a lot less casual. It was immediately evident that Espio was right. Something had gone wrong during their retrieval of the Master Emerald.

"Hey, you two!" Amy called, keeping the smile in place. She had done enough freaking out lately, and if nothing else, this adventure had taught her not to make assumptions about anything or anyone. Sonic – and for that matter, Tails and Espio – had proven her wrong many times over about their capabilities. Even if Sonic was hurt, he would be fine, she told herself. Everything would be fine.

"Heya Amy!" Tails yelled back, waving. Sonic waved too.

She made to hug the blue blur upon finishing her approach, but rethought it at the last second and came to an awkward halt right in front of him. Only then did she take her eyes off his face long enough to notice everything else.

There was a bandage on his leg, a loose piece of it blowing in the wind. A band-aid was stuck next to one of his ears. There were bandages taped in an 'x' near his stomach with a slight red spot showing through. The most noticeable of all, though, was the one wrapped tightly all the way around his torso.

"Oh my," the girl breathed, suddenly looking at him as though he were a piece of fragile glass. She reached out a careful hand and brushed his side where he was wrapped; where the bruise had already been. In response, he shifted his weight and stuck a hand on his hip.

"Well, I guess being all bandaged up isn't so bad after all, Tails," he said, though his playful eyes were still on Amy. "It impresses the ladies!"

Amy cleared her throat and tried very hard not to melt.

"Showoff," Tails muttered in the background with a grin. "Hey, I'm gonna go catch up to the others so you can take your time." He gestured to Sonic's injuries, but there was an undercurrent of teasing in his voice.

"Er, right, sure thing," Sonic said, watching him fly off. He looked back at Amy, rethought the fox's words, and blinked. _Hey, wait a minute…_

"Maybe you think otherwise," she said with a smile, putting her hands behind her back, "but I think this adventure has changed you a little bit after all."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, no need to be so defensive. I'm not suggesting it changed you in a _bad _way."

"I wasn't being defensive, I just really don't know what that's supposed to…"

"Being in Meka Tower made you realize something, didn't it, Sonic? When you're free, you'll spend time on your own for weeks without visiting your friends. In the tower… you realized what it felt like to not have the _choice _to see the people you love. Just like we all feel when you're away on your own, leaving us with no clue where you might be."

Sonic actually _hadn't_ realized it, but he did now.

"But even if you didn't notice it consciously, I can tell you've been keeping your friends a lot closer in _here_." Amy gestured to her heart. "And I was hoping… that maybe, sometimes… you could hang around more, so I don't feel like I have to chase you to see you?"

For a moment Sonic was rendered incapable of response. "Is that why you're always chasing me?" he asked quietly.

Gulping, the female hedgehog nodded. "Sonic… you know, speaking of Meka Tower, I wanted to tell you about something, if that's okay."

"Sure," Sonic said, putting a casual arm around her shoulders and beginning to lead her forward. "But let's make our way towards the others while we're at it, okay?"

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Amy said. She took the hand over her shoulder and held it firmly, pulling down a little on it to encourage Sonic to support some of his body weight on her as they walked. She glanced down at his stomach again, the red spot catching her eye. "What happened there, anyway?"

"Eggman, robot, laser burn," Sonic said. Amy nodded, understanding. It hardly needed any more explanation than that. "It's only skin-deep, though. Don't worry about me too much."

"I always worry about you," Amy protested. "I can't help it."

Sonic shrugged. "If you say so."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Hey, no need to be so defensive." Sonic grinned. "Really, though… always? That's kinda silly."

"You're silly to think I _wouldn't _worry, with all the trouble you get yourself into." Amy gave him a stubborn glance, one with a glimmer of good-naturedness beneath. Sonic found himself relieved he hadn't genuinely upset her with the remark. One never knew with that girl, and he didn't think he could handle an outburst at the moment. Then again, as far as he knew, Amy had been doing that a lot less lately…

The smiles on both hedgehogs' faces lingered long after they were done talking. There was something about idle banter that was endearing. As they continued to walk, Sonic realized he was already feeling a little better. His injuries were not a great deal worse than some other fights he had been in; only painful. They just seemed more severe because he had already been sore and very tired. Now that there were a few moments of calm, he could finally rest. Walking was about as much rest as he got lately.

"So what were you going to say?" Sonic asked, remembering that Amy had wanted to talk about something and looking at her expectantly. She pursed her lips thoughtfully.

"Basically, um… Well, do you remember back when you were fighting Chaos?"

"Nope, don't remember a thing," Sonic replied sarcastically.

"Oh, stop. Anyway, I got taken on the first Egg Carrier by that Zero robot somewhere in that mess, and you and Tails came up there to try and get me out. I had Lily with me."

"I'm following ya," Sonic said, recalling the little blue bird Amy had adopted for a while.

"You only saw me after Gamma set me free, but you don't know what happened before then," she explained. "Zero stuck me in a cell in this one area of the Egg Carrier. I was in there for quite a while with only Lily for company, which… I mean, I loved her, but she couldn't exactly talk back. Not an ideal prison mate, you know what I mean?"

"Sure."

"It wasn't even all that long, so I probably don't understand what Meka Tower was like for everyone who was trapped in there. But even if I can't relate by the length of time I was in there, I know what it's like to feel so scared, and bored, and lonely. And it's like you don't _know _anything about what'll happen next. Everything is easier if you know, but… I didn't _know_ if I was ever going to get out of that place. It was so huge, I couldn't imagine how you and Tails would find me even if you got up there. And Eggman and Gamma at first seemed so bent on taking Lily away from me. I was scared for her, thinking she would get hurt."

"It's not easy stuff," Sonic admitted.

"No, it's not. Not at all. And I guess what I'm getting at is that I want you to know that we have more in common than you think, and also that I think it's really cool that you and the others haven't let Meka Tower get to you."

"That robot friend of yours, Gamma – he let you out, right?"

"Yeah," Amy said. "That's why I wanted to keep you from fighting him. He… he gave me my freedom back again, and I knew you would win if you fought him. I did have to convince him to let me out, though. I was lucky he finally agreed."

"That takes guts," Sonic said. "You took it upon yourself to escape instead of waiting for me."

"Of course," Amy told him with a smile. "I'm not _that _needy. I can hold my own just fine."

"I guess you can," Sonic laughed, looking at her respectfully. "Nice to know I don't need to worry about you as much."

"That's right."

"Then I guess you must think _I _can't hold my own, like, at _all_."

Amy looked taken aback. "Wh-what? Of course I don't think that. Why would you say that?"

"Well, you just said you worry about me all the time. Why's that?"

"I… I, I won't worry about you anymore then!" she finally retaliated, crossing her arms. Sonic gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

"Relax, I'm just messing with ya."

"Sonic," Knuckles called as they approached. He drew a breath to say something, probably about the Master Emerald, but then pulled up short as he took in the hedgehog's appearance. "You look like crap. Suits you."

"Thanks, Knucklehead. You look red. Suits you."

"Don't make me punch you in a sore spot, hedgehog."

Sonic smirked. "I could hit you in a sore spot too, Knux. All I'd have to do is break your pet rock. Am I right?"

The expression on the echidna's face told Sonic he was right. It was one of incredulous disbelief, but it slowly gave way to a knowing, respectful smile. The one Knuckles had wanted to give him before.

"Hey, far as _I'm _concerned," Sonic continued, "I've got some rights on that rock, or something, at this point.

"Quit calling it that," Knuckles said. "Anyway, you know, thanks, and stuff. I'm glad it's safe." _I'm glad you're safe._

Sonic slapped him on the shoulder. "Didn't do it for _you_, silly. But you're welcome."

Lucas, Amber and Espio were around them now, the first two not as accustomed to seeing Sonic or anyone else in a state like that and looking somewhat unsettled. Though to be entirely fair, _none _of them were used to seeing Sonic or anyone else in that state. Thankfully, even the damage he had sustained _seemed _worse than it actually was. The worst of it was his side.

"So, then…" Espio trailed off momentarily, confusion evident in his golden eyes. "How is it you ended up fighting Eggman?"

Sonic looked up, eyes following the Egg Carrier 2. It was high up and starting to get further away – a clear indicator that it was still indeed being piloted. His heart skipped a beat.

"Wait… Tails…" Sonic stammered, turning to his brother. "You _did _see that giant robot stop working, right? Isn't that what Chaos Controlled Eggman there to begin with?"

"Yeah," Tails said nervously, "because the H-series can teleport! But… but how could Eggman have gotten back on the Egg Carrier 2 if his robot stopped working?"

"And more so," Espio interjected, "how has the Egg Carrier 2 been flying steadily the whole time you were gone? Unless it has an autopilot…"

"I don't think it does," Tails said. "Besides, all the people Eggman captured are valuable to him. Same with the chao, and his robots, and the Chaos energy… I mean, he wouldn't just _leave_!" He whirred back around to look at Sonic frantically. "You were right about your hunch. Something is really, really wrong here."

For what seemed like a long time, the only voice was that of the wind.

"…He _had _to have left," Sonic finally said. Obvious as the statement was, even he was beginning to second-guess it. "Are you sure one of his androids isn't piloting the ship or something?"

They all looked up at the massive fortress. Nobody had an answer.

"Either way," Espio said, "we have to do something. This must be stopped. Each step we take gets us slightly closer, but not close enough. Not as close as he gets further."

Sonic and Tails finally wrapped their heads around the situation, both of them nodding in response to the detective's words. They didn't know everything, but right now they had to work with what they did know.

"Oh, and while you were gone," Knuckles cut in, "Lucas and Amber told us they think a lot of the prisoners that were near the top will help out if we can somehow get the Egg Carrier 2 to land. You know, defeating androids and whatnot."

"That's… great!" Sonic said.

"What, that doesn't bother you?"

Sonic shrugged. "Who am I to try and stop them if they want to help? You know something, Knux, in the past other people have never been involved. Usually Eggman's plans don't get that far. But this time, since they are, I had the chance to see how ready so many of 'em are to end this. Not only for themselves but for the people around them. They're just like us!"

In the background of the conversation, Tails looked away, suddenly uncomfortable.

"The way you and I rallied people in there," Lucas said, "they'd probably be pissed if you tried to stop them now."

"Yeah, I bet. And… well, the way they rallied _us,_ too." The blue blur smiled with rare modesty. So badly, he wanted to win for them. More than he ever had before. Before, he had fought for people he barely even knew, people who barely knew him. This time he had witnessed them… and they had witnessed him. They had known the best and worst of each other. He had fought their fight. Their spirit was his own spirit reflected back at him, and it made him want to win more than anything, whatever it took. They were worth it. He was worth it. _All _of them were worth it.

"It'd help to know what's going on," Amy said, teal eyes looking back and forth between the others. "We don't even have any idea what he's up to with the Egg Carrier 2."

"He pretty much already told us." Knuckles crossed his arms impatiently, looking like he was more eager to do something than to stand there talking about it. "It was a backup in case things went wrong with his Meka Tower scheme. Which they did. I wouldn't put it beyond him to take the Egg Carrier 2 into hiding with all those people still on it."

"I wish I could have gotten more of those people off," Tails muttered. "It's not like it was an all-or-nothing deal. I know I couldn't have gotten everyone, but I could have maybe brought a few dozen back to ground…"

"You helped get Sonic get the Master Emerald," Knuckles reminded him, somehow sounding irritable and consoling at the same time.

"He's right," Sonic said with a shrug. "You saved my life. If it hadn't been for you, we wouldn't have gotten the Master Emerald at all. None of that would have turned out as well."

"As well?" Tails asked quietly. "Look at you. You got hurt. How can you say that? I should have made a better password door, or… or had some kind of way to be able to get in. I mean, of course Eggman would try to break in. I should have expected it." He shook his head morosely. "'Well?'"

"Yes, 'well,'" Lucas chimed in, leaning down to put a hand on the fox's shoulder, "because the Master Emerald is safe for the moment, and Sonic's alive." He glanced over at said hedgehog. "That what you were about to say?"

Sonic blinked. "Verbatim."

"But I…"

"Even if you think you should have done something better," Amy said suddenly, "Remember what you told me when I almost got us killed in the Tornado? We've _all _messed up at some point, so… join the club."

"All right, all right, I'm convinced," Tails said with a small smile. Thanks you guys. But Sonic… I'm still worried about you, whether it's anyone's fault or not. You know I wouldn't bother saying this if I didn't think it was _really _important… I was going to tell you this back when I was trying to get you to go to the hospital, but I decided not to since I didn't think we'd have to fight Eggman anymore anyway. But since Eggman really _is _still here, we _do _have to keep fighting, and… Sonic, this is my last chance to convince you."

Sonic asked, "Convince me about what?"

"It's just… it's just that this is the fight of our lives, Sonic, and you just got hurt really bad. You're… you're not in any condition to do this anymore! Don't you see that? Don't you see that you could get killed so easily? Or that Eggman and his androids could catch you again and take you to some secret base like they're probably about to do with all those people?"

"All the more reason to stop him _now,_" Sonic said, gaze steady. Knuckles, next to him, nodded vigorously in agreement. "The Egg Carrier 2 gets further away every second we sit here."

"But I don't want you to fight him!" Tails's voice sounded desperate, helpless – like it had been in the cave, like it had been with Amy after his dream, like it had been when Espio had first contacted him from the tower. Like it had been so many times before as the tension built and built. He had risen up against it despite his anxiety. Not once had he demanded this fight to end – until today. Now he could no longer help it. "Listen to me," he stammered out. "You can't, not in this state, not with so little of a chance! Sonic, I just got you back…!"

Tails drifted off, or more accurately, choked off as he found himself unable to continue.

For a few heavy seconds, everyone's worried faces rested on Sonic. The hedgehog hated it, hated the concern and the pity. This wasn't the time. Not when they were so close. They were making assumptions about him, about his ability to fight… why were they making assumptions? He wasn't hurt _that _badly… And regardless, had he ever given them reason to doubt him before?

"I'm sorry," Amber whispered from a short distance away, looking dismal. "I would heal you, Sonic… but after healing Lucas's leg…"

"It's not your fault," Sonic told her. "It drains you, and the Chaos energy. We need to save that energy anyway."

"I just wish I could do something."

The silence lingered gloomily.

Amy cut through the awkwardness with her voice, having caught onto Tails's plane of thought and contemplated it for a few moments. She stepped forward and looked at Sonic with a gentle, almost timid expression. "I don't think Tails could quite say it the way he wants to," she said, and bit her lip when Sonic's gaze turned on her. Though nervous and unusually intimidated by the blue blur, she maintained eye contact. "So let me put it this way: if we invade the ship, the odds aren't going to be with us. You getting hurt or killed… is the worst thing that could happen right now. We need you. And you know Eggman would have his eyes set on you before the rest of us. You _know _it. With you as weak as you are, we have to be _realistic _here…"

She paused, trying to locate the words she wanted to continue with. She had to word things carefully. Before her, Sonic was crossing his arms as he waited for her to continue, fully aware that she was saying exactly what he knew they had all been thinking.

"Look… you've always been here for all of us, Sonic. You've always protected us, cared for us, and held fast in the face of danger. That's why I love you. So let us return the favor, just this once."

None of them expected Sonic to agree. They expected him to give a cocky thumbs-up and assure them he'd be fine. They expected him grin and say something sarcastic.

Indeed, Sonic didn't agree. But it wasn't the type of disagreement they were used to.

His eyes creased downward, and his fierce stare shot out at all of them. One fist clenched impatiently at his side. "You two rehearse this or something?" he asked, frowning, and then turned to the others, none of whom had offered a word yet. "What about you? Knuckles? …_Lucas?_" He looked at each of his friends in turn, the atmosphere between his glare and their faces suddenly becoming very tense. "Is everyone in on this 'protect Sonic' thing?"

"I-I'm sorry, Sonic," Tails mumbled, ears falling against the sides of his head. He couldn't meet his friend's eyes. "I knew you wouldn't want to hear it, because you've been held back _enough_ in the past few months and you don't want your friends to start now… I get that, and I'm really sorry, but it's just because we're worried and you just don't _see_…"

"Sonic knows you're worried," Knuckles interrupted then, before the rigid exchange could go any further. Sonic glanced over at him, his face unreadable. "And he also knows what he's been through without your constant reminders. For Chaos's sake, _how _many times have we been in tight situations like this? How many times has Sonic or me or you or _someone _gotten hurt? A _lot_, that's how many. You're only freaking out this time because Sonic was trapped for three months, and without your leader you were forced to acknowledge the severity of a situation beyond your control."

"Knuckles…" Sonic whispered quickly, trying to halt the echidna's harsh words. He was irritated too, but he hadn't quite wanted to put it like _that…_

"Can it, hedgehog, I'm not done. Listen…" he said, looking at the younger members of their team again, his voice losing some of its edge as he approached them. "I don't want to act like this isn't a serious situation, so don't get that idea. But at the same time, the things that have happened shouldn't make you start second-guessing what we're capable of… or what your reckless blue friend is capable of. For all his faults, that guy has a _hell_ of a lot of faith in you two. He just wants the same in return."

"That's right," Sonic said slowly, calmer now as he walked over to stand next to Knuckles. "I… I just need you all to trust me on this one, okay? Fight with me like… well, like you always have."

Lucas was standing in the background of the proceedings, weight shifted to his better leg. The one Amber had healed was still slightly sore. "Yeah, guys," he chimed in unexpectedly. "I mean, come on. You're all supposed to know him _better _than I do. And as far as I'm concerned, the things that have happened are all the _more _reason to keep the faith, not less."

It seemed no one knew how to respond, as if all were waiting for someone else to go first, so that they could conform. It was a moment of rare self-consciousness and confusion among all of them. Finally, Sonic broke the silence with a sigh and turned away from them, hurt. "I'm finishing this, with or without your approval," he said, and departed at a careful jog toward the Tornado. It still sat some distance away, where Tails had parked it earlier.

Though it would take longer than usual to get there, he could still get there faster than anyone else if he wanted. But he didn't want to. Not yet. He wanted the others to catch up to him. Surely they would come and catch up.

…Tails was first.

Despite the fox's adamancy to protect Sonic, he came up alongside the hedgehog with his namesakes spinning behind him in the wind. His doubtful expression had been replaced with one of sincerity and hope, as though he had come to his senses and remembered just how many times they had been in trying situations like this. The fox had pushed his own trauma aside before. He would do it one last time.

It would be okay, his expression said. Sonic winked at him.

Knuckles came up on his other side, lightly punching him on the shoulder and offering a small smile. Espio, Amy, Lucas and Amber followed behind, not quite as fast as the former three but still able to keep up with the slow pace Sonic had set. He could tell they were there.

"Okay," he said with finality, the familiar grin finally breaking through once again. He fell naturally into the leader role and took control of the situation, even if only with his voice – and he wasted no time doing it. "A good handful of the people up there on the fortress have rebelled against Eggman. I'm sure of it. So we'll need somebody to get them going in the right direction. They deserve to fight if they want to. Eggman can't continue his plans without androids, so if they can take the rest of those guys out… Well, it's way easier said than done, of course, but that's where we all come in.

"Tails, you've been coordinating everything else so far. You up to this?"

The fox looked at him in surprise. "Y-yeah! Yeah, I can do that. I'll find the loudspeaker, and tell people to target the androids!"

"Great. And then once the fortress is landed, they'll be able to fight on the ground, too. Safer that way, for sure. Which leads me to the most important point, actually. You're the only one with enough aircraft knowledge to get that thing to the ground safely."

"I've never piloted anything that big before," Tails said, "but I'll do everything I can do get it right!"

"That's the way to think! Take your time, though, so I have a chance to clear a path for you first. I'll carve a way to the control room and make sure it's safe, so you can go in."

"How are you going to do that?" the fox asked incredulously.

Sonic didn't know the answer until just that moment. "I'll… I'll use the Master Emerald," he breathed. "It's ours now. I'll draw on a bit of its power to do what I need to do."

"Sonic, yes! It'll probably heal you quite a bit, too!"

Knuckles sighed. "Don't get too excited, kid. He can't use too much of it. We still need that."

"That's why I said a _bit _of its power," Sonic reminded him, having arrived at the same conclusion on his own.

"Sonic, just tell me when a path is clear to the pilot's room, okay?" Tails asked. "I'll have my link on!"

"Sure thing, bro. Next: no doubt there's loads of citizens who are panicking up there, aside from the ones that may want to fight… there are people who just want to go home. People who can't or don't want to be involved anymore. Some are probably dehydrated or sick from the heat. Somebody's gotta get these people to safety."

"How about I help take care of that, once Tails lands the fortress?" Amber suggested. Sonic nodded at her. "I don't know if I can do it alone, though…"

For a moment nobody picked up the bait, most everyone else bent on having a piece of the action despite the importance of this task. Then Amy smiled and walked up to Amber. "I'll help," she said, taking Amber's hand encouragingly. "Just as soon as I kick a few androids butts."

"Okay."

"Right then! Guardian," Sonic said to Knuckles, winking. "As soon as I use the Master Emerald, I know you'll want to be the one to protect it."

"Damn straight. Not only is it my duty, but if Eggman gets it, he'll have the upper hand."

"You've gotta multitask, because Tails can't be the only one battling Eggman's fleet. Worst case scenario here is that all hell's gonna break loose on the ground once the ship is landed. And there are still some of the H-series in Meka Tower that Egghead could use, so be ready."

"Not a problem," he said, cracking his knuckles. "I'm always ready."

They punched each other's fists, then Sonic looked over his shoulder at Espio. "Espio, since you were investigating that Knuckles fake right from the start, you should do what you're best at and find it. Plus, he'll never know you're coming. Camouflage, and all."

"Thanks for reminding me, I forgot I could do that," the chameleon remarked dryly.

"Just sayin'."

"Of course. If I can take care of him quickly, I'll return to help destroy Eggman's forces and aid Amy and Amber if they need it."

"Sounds like a plan. And Lucas…?"

"Yeah, Sonic?"

"This is outta the blue here – uh, literally, I guess – but I'm kind of worried about the chao. The only one we ever saw was Kai, and that's 'cause he was Eggman's lackey for a while. I thought we'd see the rest when Meka Tower was set free, but we haven't come across them yet."

"I was thinking the same thing," Lucas said. "Kai probably went off to find them too. I'll try to find out if they're okay."

Sonic nodded. "Awesome. Well, what are we waiting for, then? Let's do this!"

"Good luck, everyone!" Tails said, and jumped into the air, using his own personal flying mechanism instead of the Tornado to get to the Egg Carrier 2. Everyone else broke off from their forward trajectory, going their separate ways. Everyone except Knuckles.

"Uh…"

"I have to wait for you to draw on the Master Emerald before I can take it, remember?" the echidna asked, running alongside him.

"Right." Sonic nodded once and swerved to head back towards the Tornado, where said gem was. "Hey, about earlier… what brought that on? It's not very often you side with me on anything."

Knuckles shrugged. "It's not very often you're right," he said, receiving a haha-funny look from Sonic in return. There was a brief lapse in conversation, then the guardian decided to elaborate. "Tails is mature for his age. Amy is too, in a few ways. Still, there are things they aren't old enough to understand yet; things that I do understand."

"I'm not following."

"Sonic, I've guarded the Master Emerald my whole life. So I know what it means to be devoted to a cause. I also know what it's like to go through something rough _because _of that devotion. I've been doing it my whole life, in one way or another, whether it be sitting alone in isolation on an island or searching the corners of the earth for shattered pieces. Or being trapped by Eggman, hungry and surrounded by people who gave up hope."

Knuckles paused, and in his eyes was a kind of deep sadness Sonic had never seen on him before. For the first time he got an authentic glimpse into just what the echidna had been through. Sonic had seen the worst of Meka Tower, but he had never lived it. He had only glimpsed from the outside.

"I guess what I'm getting at," Knuckles went on, "is that I've found that difficulty motivates you even more to succeed. It's not like that with everybody… but I _know_ you. You wouldn't want to endure everything you've endured just to end up backing away. You'd want to make the pain worth it and finish the job. Just like I do."

Sonic looked at him, blinking as the echidna shared with him this new perspective. Although it was true, he had never consciously thought of it that way. "Wow, that was deep, Knux."

"Wow," the echidna said too. "Insults are what I get for defending you."

Silence. "Well… actually I was serious."

"What…?" Knuckles met the hedgehog's eyes, and found only honesty there. He was an honest person himself and, having been fooled by Eggman one too many times in his life, knew the signs; Sonic wasn't mocking him.

"That's a great way to put it. I didn't want it to all be for nothing, y' know? Nobody else seemed to get that. Well… the younger ones, anyway. I mean, what's the worst that could happen? Seriously, compared to everything else we've been through so far, what's the worst?"

"That's just the thing," Knuckles said. "Things never got that bad before. Sonic… you did get beat up a bit there, but that's not all they were worried about."

Sonic nodded. "Yeah, I know."

"They're scared. There's no way to know how far Eggman will go to get what he wants anymore. There's something wrong with him, Sonic."

"Thanks for telling me, I wasn't sure."

Knuckles gave him a sidelong glance. "Tails and Amy… they're still shaken up, you know." His violet eyes fell in the shadows of creased brows, just before he closed them momentarily. "We're_ all_ shaken up."

"Yeah, well, _Eggman's _about to get shaken up, too."

"You'd say that." Knuckles grinned a little. "We're going to stay strong, eh, my friend?"

"'Course we are!" Sonic looked at him. "I just hope the others can, too. We're not done. There's still lots left to do, here. And, well, it's like you said earlier… they never had to understand how serious things were before because nothing quite like this ever happened to us. Things never got this crazy. So I guess it was like a reality check."

"Yeah," Knuckles said, ironic laughter mixed in his tone as he continued, "but apparently reality checks don't work on you."

"Ehh. Everyone acts like Meka Tower was the apocalypse or something," he muttered with a shrug. Then, quieter: "I guess sometimes it kinda felt like it."

Knuckles looked away, not knowing what to say. Fortunately, he didn't have to, as the blue blur continued shortly.

"You know, this might sound whacked, Knux. But if it came down to it I think I'd rather… I'd rather…" Sonic trailed off, though he made a gesture with his hands to account for it, as though he wanted to continue talking but didn't know what words to use.

"I know."

"Yeah. I'd rather risk something crazy happening again than have us lose because I sat out. Even being stuck somewhere like that. 'Cause if we lost, it'd make everything we've done so far null and void. I'm not okay with that."

"Sonic, I've gotta confess, a while back I thought to myself that you could never commit to anything. You asked what brought that on earlier, and I guess my answer is that I realized I was wrong about you. You're devoted to your beliefs and your cause just like I'm devoted to the Master Emerald."

"Aren't we all devoted to our beliefs?"

"Not everyone has what it takes to keep on following through with them, though, and that's what makes the difference." Knuckles paused. "Maybe you and I aren't so different after all."

Sonic smiled at him.

"But hey, we're almost there. Better get ready."

"Uh, right," the hedgehog said. "And… thanks. Guess I should say that now in case we don't see each other again for a while."

"What gives you that idea?" Knuckles asked.

"Eggman's got hundreds of bots on his side, and a huge fortress. Not to mention, it's not like Meka Tower stopped existing. He's kind of got the better end of the stick at the moment, much as I hate to say it."

"Even if something happens to one of us, as long as the Master Emerald is safe, there'll be a way to make things right again."

"I know that." Sonic nodded as if to encourage both Knuckles and himself. They were about to take a lot of risks, and if things didn't go right, the Egg Carrier 2 would be the new Meka Tower or the end of thousands of lives. "So keep it safe, guardian."

Xxx

_"Let's get ready to do this. We'll show that creep the real super power of teamwork!" –Sonic, Sonic Heroes_

Xxx

_In the next chapter: The plan begins… and Sonic and Eggman get some answers. From each other. About everything._

You know, I have to confess… for as cheesy as that Heroes quote is, when I first heard it I thought it was so perfect. :D Sonic's a cheeseball anyway so it works.

Lots coming up yet. Next update(s) will be more timely. ;) Please lemme know what you thought! See ya next time.


	38. Chapter 37: Counterintuitive

Hey guys! Listen, I just wanna say, I appreciate _any _feedback someone chooses to give. Don't feel like you have to make novels of reviews unless you, y' know, actually feel like it, okay? Regardless of what other people are doing or how they choose to comment. Just say what you actually find yourself _wanting_ to say, you know? (After all, I'm supposed to be writing the novel here, right? ;P) I mean, I'm certainly not gonna stop ya if that's your thing (it's mine too sometimes), but at the same time, I know it might be hard for you to actually get into it if you're dissecting it, not to mention time consuming, so don't feel like you have to do that. What I really want is for you guys to enjoy the story. :)

So with that said, enjoy the story! ;) I'm pretty fond of some of the dialogue in this chapter, especially (guess who?) Sonic's. Hope you like.

CHAPTER 37: COUNTERINTUITIVE

"All right, Sonic. Enough jibber-jabber. Take what you need from the Master Emerald and get out of here."

"I'm on it."

Sonic and Knuckles were at the Tornado. The former had just closed his eyes and was focusing on drawing the gem's power into himself. In the meantime, Knuckles grumbled under his breath about how the Master Emerald shouldn't have been left unattended in the Tornado like that, even for a few minutes, despite that they had not been all that far from it. He hopped up on the plane's wing and stared down at the Master Emerald like a lighthouse overlooking a lake. "Easy, Sonic. Remember not to use too much right now."

Sonic chuckled. "I won't _need_ too much."

"And if anybody gets captured or seriously hurt, we say… how about… 'fur,' or something. That should be easy enough to disguise. I'll find someone with a communicator so they can tell the rest of the team."

"No need to find anyone," Sonic said, hopping in the Tornado and digging through a storage compartment. His fur had taken on a shining aura that made him look glow-in-the-dark without the dark. Though he was still blue, he exuded a soft green light, like that of the Master Emerald. It matched the color of his eyes.

"What are you doing?"

"Here!" the hedgehog said, tossing him a communicator. "Figured Tails would have some spares stashed somewhere. The buckle thingy on my old one is messed up, so I'll have to use one of the spares too." He strapped one around his wrist and hopped down. "I'll have to get Tails to fix that. Because, you know, that's such a _huge _priority and all."

"I was going to say something like that if you didn't," Knuckles said dryly. "How are you feeling?"

"Great!" Sonic replied, unraveling his bandages and letting them drop next to him. A few pieces blew away in the wind. "Even the ribs are feeling decent. Only thing that still hurts is the burn on my stomach."

Knuckles glanced down at the area. It was blistered somewhat and puffy around the edges. Thankfully he could see it continuing to heal at an accelerated rate as the gem's power worked on it. It wouldn't heal completely, since Sonic was going to use a lot of that energy to fight his way to the pilot room of the Egg Carrier 2 in a few minutes. "Do you want me to take care of that?" The guardian asked, gesturing to what remained of the injury.

"Nah, it's fine. It'll take too long anyway. I'm supposed to do this before Tails gets up there."

"Okay. And Sonic."

"Hm?"

"For everything I said to you back there, Tails and Amy do have a point. Eggman'll be ready for your best, and you're not even up to par yet."

"Whatever. I'm ready for his best too."

"He's going to have something up his sleeve, you know."

"Oh boy, you should have warned me earlier. Do I really have to do this?"

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "Cut the crap, Sonic. Seriously; watch yourself. Much as I hate to admit it, we need you."

"Yeah, yeah. Have fun; I know I will!" Sonic said, and jumped off the wing. He didn't come back down. The Chaos energy let him defy gravity, and he rocketed up toward the Egg Carrier 2. Knuckles watched him go, then turned his attention back to the shimmering gem before him and did what he did best.

xxx

People cheered Sonic as he landed with a dramatic bow on the top surface of the Egg Carrier 2. Many of them were near poles, corners, or other things they could hold onto, as if expecting the ship to turn again. For all _he _could know, none of them might have fallen. But then, if they had, he wouldn't have seen anyway. With that kind of momentum, they would have plunged deep into the sand…

_Ugh. I hope they're okay._

He knew they weren't. He knew there was no way everybody had survived, even if most had. The reality tugged hard on him and he knew it was going to be the first thing he thought of once this ended – if this ended. But for now it was easier to stifle that thought. He had things to do yet.

After offering a quick grin to the people watching him, Sonic ran over to one of the doors leading to the interior and, with a surge of energy, forced it open. Once he disappeared inside he secured it tightly behind him, making sure no one could follow.

The interior reminded him of the old Egg Carrier, but with a different color scheme. He was in a tall, wide hallway with a transparent red floor, a frame of yellow and black stripes going down either side of it. The universal colors of warning… of danger. The walls curved inward near the top to meet the ceiling in a rounded arc. They were a metallic blue, and were supported every little ways by thick beams that created a triangle against the floor. Lights shone dimly, enabling Sonic to see but still hiding parts of the hallway in shadow.

"Eggman," Sonic called, taking the path at a jog toward the front of the fortress, "if you can hear me, how about you come and partake in round two? Come on, I'm ready for ya."

There was no response.

"Come on, Eggster. I know you're surprised to see me still kicking and all, but snap out of it and come fight me like a man. Or like an egg, whatever suits your fancy. Would you like that over easy or over…"

Sonic was cut off abruptly as dozens of androids came out from behind the foundational pillars with surprising speed, two of them coming right to his sides and taking hold.

"Ahhaha, _really?_ You guys think I didn't know you were around?" Still caught between them, the blue blur flashed a grin. "That's cute. Come on then, attack me or whatever. I mean, I'm defenseless and all, right? Don't wanna miss a great opportunity, do ya?"

Sonic was fully expecting for them to grow irritated and oblige – so that he could obliterate them all at once, of course – but they just stood there, watching him. The one at his left spoke up for all of them to hear, awe in its artificial voice.

"He has Chaos energy."

"Got a problem with that?"

"Quickly, fellows. We must take Sonic…"

Sonic snapped its neck, mashed the broken head into the android at his other side, and then released a current of energy into the floor at his feet. The remaining robots sizzled for a fraction of a second and blew up.

"I prefer to go on my _own _terms."

He bolted down the hall at top speed. If there were other androids in wait anywhere, they didn't show themselves. It took mere seconds to reach the area of his destination. It was surprisingly anticlimactic. He had expected more of a fight…

He could see the pilot's room. Not only its entrance, but the actual room. The door was open. The doctor was waiting for him; he was being welcomed.

Knowing the smug attitude Eggman would surely have, Sonic walked in like he belonged there, the grin never having left his features. He crossed his arms. "Hey there, Predictable."

"That's awfully bold of you, Sonic. We might share that nickname lately, you and I."

Sonic walked to the front of the room and turned to face Eggman. He was behind a bulletproof glass shield, a circular island sitting in front him with a limited set of controls. He adjusted his glasses and set his gaze. As Sonic glanced around briefly at the rest of the room, he saw that the same glass made up about three-quarters of it; the window took up the front and both sides. The only portions of the area composed of solid color were the back wall, the floor and the ceiling.

"Why you say that, doc?"

"Well now. It's quite obvious that you would find a way up here and try to stop me."

"So you knew I survived your attacks then?" the hedgehog asked, putting a hand on his hip. "I'm flattered, doc. About time things like that stopped coming as such a surprise to you."

"What are you so smug about, anyway?" Eggman demanded. He adjusted his glasses again.

"Who, _me?_ I'm supposed to attribute that to a reason?"

Eggman mocked a tired expression. "Oh, that's right. You're _Sonic the hedgehog_. Okay then, now that we've established as much…"

Sonic interrupted him. "How did you do it?" he asked simply, hands out in questioning. "You shouldn't have been able to get back here. You shouldn't have even been able to _leave!_"

"Of course, of course you'd be confused. You'll be pleased to know that the explanation to both of those things is the same."

Sonic didn't know about the 'pleased' part. "And what's that?"

Eggman smiled and ran his fingers down the longer side of his mustache. He had trimmed it slightly to make it closer to the side that had been halved, but apparently hadn't had the heart to shorten it enough to match. Irony in voice, he replied, "Knuckles."

Sonic's immediate reaction of course was to think of his red echidna friend. But after a moment Eggman's real meaning sunk in, and Sonic glared. "The fake."

"Always knew you were a smart one, Sonic."

Groaning impatiently in his throat, Sonic crossed his arms. "You're not gonna tell me _any _incarnation of _Knuckles _knows how to fly a fortress."

"Fine, I won't tell you." Eggman grinned sarcastically and steepled his fingers. "Though what I should point out is that _your _Knuckles has lived by himself near nature his whole life. _My _Knuckles, for all intents and purposes, has grown up with me, around mechanics and Chaos energy. He can do a lot more than you think."

"Chaos energy." Explanations began to fall together in Sonic's mind. "You had him Chaos Control you back to the fortress after your robot was disabled?"

"Dear me, no." Eggman had a look of surprise on his face that seemed to deliberately mock Sonic's guess. "While I suppose wouldn't put it beyond either Knuckles to have the ability for such a thing, I've no idea how to get him to do so."

Sonic decided to play devil's advocate. "But you can get your robots to do it."

"As you rightly pointed out before, they're _robots_," Eggman said. "They are less complex than someone of flesh and blood. I know enough about Chaos properties to get them to do minor teleportation."

Keeping a poker face, Sonic decided not to remark about what the doctor had just confirmed to him.

"Besides," Eggman continued, "Knuckles is strong enough not to need such a thing to get through a door, isn't he? Though your fox friend built that door to be admirably strong, my dear guardian still managed to pry his way in after a little persuasion."

"Why not send your 'Knuckles' to get the Master Emerald in the first place, if he could open the gate from the start? You could have stayed here where you belong, and your Knuckles would have gotten the gem. Seems like a lot less trouble. I mean, isn't that his job after all?"

Eggman regarded the hedgehog with unexpected severity. "That is none of your business."

Sonic crossed his arms again. There were several things he could point out to dispute that, the first being that the Master Emerald was none of _Eggman's _business, but this time he kept his mouth shut. There was something disturbing about the way the doctor had said that.

"Anyway…" Eggman continued as though the cheer had never left his tone. "We didn't have much of a choice but to let my androids take care of the fortress in our absence, but fortunately we made quick work of it. After my echidna friend let me free, a few more of the androids took me back to the Egg Carrier 2 so that I could be here waiting for you, and so that the guardian could do… other things." He raised his eyebrows. "_You _sure took your sweet time, for a change."

Sonic realized he had. Having Tails patch up his injuries had only taken an hour or so in itself, but having to walk from the Tornado back to the group had tacked on more time. Then Tails and Amy had tried to convince him to stay back, which obviously hadn't done much for his progress either… "Well, I'm here now," he said. He refused to be upset with himself or anyone else for the delay. What was done was done. "Let's get on with it, shall we?"

"Oh, we're not getting on with anything, dearest Sonic."

"Care to elaborate, dearest Eggy?" Sonic asked, then made a look like he had tasted something peculiar in his mouth. "Ugh, how do you _say _that? It's so weird!"

"Right now, I'm not going to do anything. I'm not going to dramatically introduce a brand new robot for you to fight. Not now, anyway. Your worst enemy at the moment, Sonic, happens to be my best companion. Time."

"Time?"

"That's right. You see, you cannot get to me on the other side of that window; you cannot stop what I am doing or where I am going. This is bulletproof glass. But you being you, Sonic; you will still try. Eventually you will run out of energy, and you will be too far from the Master Emerald for it to matter."

"So will you," Sonic shot back. "What happened to wanting that so bad?"

"Oh, I still have full intentions of getting it. But it can wait. That gem will not matter if I do not have the people – the empire – to dictate with it. So instead of taking such another large risk, I will continue to protect what of this war I have already won… until there is another opportunity."

"Not if I have anything to say about it."

Eggman gestured to the glass in front of him, crossing his legs comfortably at the ankles. "Well, go on then. Have your say."

Sonic did, spinning along the ground and throwing himself into the glass, trying to break it and get to Eggman. The window stood unmoving against his attacks, despite the Chaos energy flowing in his system. He uncurled and landed, regarding Eggman with a very different expression now, shock in his eyes. He had predicted the gist of the doctor's scheme. But what he hadn't taken into account was that he just might not be able to overcome it. He briefly considered leaving the Egg Carrier 2 to think of another way. Then he realized he might not have enough energy left to make it back the ground without falling. Flying took a lot of energy, and it was a long way down. If things had gone to plan, Tails would be in the pilot room and he wouldn't have had to worry about that.

Eggman laughed, like he was sensing the hedgehog's uneasiness. "Well, Sonic, you're certainly in trouble now, aren't you?"

Sonic recovered, even if only on the surface, and grinned. "You've got me shaking in my fur, Eggy."

xxx

"Damn it, Sonic, it's only been ten minutes!" Knuckles said, not actually speaking into his communicator but hoping somehow that Sonic would hear the words anyway. He had caught Sonic's code and the barely-detectable undertone of urgency in his voice. "It's not like I can get myself up there! _Tails!_"

"Knuckles, what's wrong?" came the immediate response.

"I know you're probably on your way up to the Egg Carrier 2, but you need to get your two-tailed butt back down here again! Sonic's gotten himself in trouble and I have a feeling you're going to have to do another break-in with the Tornado."

"On it," the fox said quickly. Knuckles lowered his communicator and got in the passenger seat of the Tornado, heaving the Master Emerald out of it. It was light as a feather to him as he brought it down to ground, pushing its tip into the sand so it would rest upright.

"Ahh, _there's _my precious gem."

Knuckles's eyes widened. That had been his voice… but it hadn't come from his mouth.

Naturally, he whirred around, long red dreadlocks moving like whiplash.

There was no time for introduction. The other echidna was already coming at him, ready to fight for what he claimed to be his.

Knuckles ducked a punch, grabbed the outreached arm, and brought the fake to the ground. Knowing his fighting style, the fake grappled with him, wrapping an arm around his neck to keep either of them from getting back up. In response, Knuckles elbowed him hard in the torso, right between the stomach and the chest. The fake gave a grunt and let go.

"Just _who _do you think you are!?" Knuckles roared as he got up. He ran down the sand dune, getting out of view of the Tornado so Tails wouldn't see the fight and get distracted. The other echidna gave chase immediately. "I've been waiting for this opportunity. No one impersonates the guardian of the Master Emerald! You are a walking insult!"

Dark ferocity haunted the other's eyes. "I _am _the guardian of the Master Emerald! I am Knuckles!"

"Hah! Maybe in your daydreams. The only name you deserve is Imposter!"

Imposter came at him. Knuckles sidestepped but left one foot where it was, causing the other echidna to trip over his foot and land face-first in the sand. In the same motion, Knuckles dug a knee into his back and grabbed him by the dreadlocks, shoving his face hard into earth.

"What's this now!?" Knuckles asked snidely. "If you're going to imitate me, you better be able to do me justice! Fight like you mean it, robot!"

In response, the fake kicked up a heel, landing it between Knuckles's legs. "I meant that," he murmured in a dark whisper, shoving the guardian away. He lay there in quiet, breathless agony, temporarily debilitated.

In the meantime, Imposter stood up, brought back a foot and kicked him in the head. His thick red locks barely cushioned the blow.

"_Agh! _Y-you bastard…"

"I think it's you who should be doing _me _justice, 'guardian.'"

"Well, if you're _destroyed_, I won't have to do justice by anyone but myself!"

Imposter leveled a kick at him again. This time, Knuckles grasped the foot at the right second and twisted, taking the fake echidna down again.

"Hope you don't mind," Knuckles remarked coldly. "I like my opponents at eye level or lower." Then Knuckles drove a punch hard into his side, spiked gloves leading the way.

Imposter screamed in pain. Knuckles withdrew his hand to strike again, and then saw it.

Blood.

It was more debilitating than the kick to the groin.

"You're bleeding," Knuckles said, his shock making him come off as stoic even though he was anything but. "Why… why are you bleeding?"

"What the hell kind of question is that?" Imposter's tone reflected Knuckles's well-known temper, but with an undertone of threat. "Don't you bleed?"

"Yes, but… but…" Knuckles stammered. "You… aren't a robot…?"

"Here," Imposter said with an unsettling smile, then moved quickly and held Knuckles to the ground by his neck before he could react. "Let me knock some _sense _into you." And he drove his fist downward, aiming right for the guardian's face.

Knuckles managed to turn in its grasp at the last millisecond, letting the strike hit off to the side. It still hurt, though, and he groaned in pain. It felt like a black eye already. And something had been cut by one of those spiked fists.

"You're bleeding too," Imposter whispered with a malevolent grin. He was still holding Knuckles down by the neck with one hand, hard enough to pin him there but not hard enough to choke him. With his other hand, he wiped blood from the wound he had made on Knuckles's cheek, then held it up. A drop strayed and hit the guardian's eye. "See?"

Knuckles screamed.

xxx

Sonic stood in the middle of the room, confused.

He was powered up with the Master Emerald's energy. Not a lot of it, but still… it should have been more than sufficient to break through a glass barrier. He looked around, as if the inanimate window and walls would somehow give him a solution he wasn't thinking of. They stared back at him, unmoving and indifferent.

He'd had an illusion of control. He was at his destination and there was not even a fight ensuing, yet he could not stop Eggman. He needed to get through the glass. If he couldn't stop Eggman, he might as well have been one of the prisoners again.

_Tails, Knuckles, someone… I hope you're coming._

"So what, then? You're not going to fight me?" Sonic asked.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you, Sonic? But no, in fact, I'm not. I'm simply going to wait until your power runs out."

Sonic barely took in the words. He would let their significance settle later, but right now there was still hope, and he couldn't let the possibilities get to him. He had to filter through it. "I don't get it," he said slowly. "I should be able to break through…"

"Ah, yes," the doctor said casually. "I failed to mention that, aside from being made from bulletproof glass, this shield is backed up by Chaos energy from the Emeralds I have gathered. Of course, the power you've gained from the Master Emerald would _normally_ override that. But this isn't an equal opponent, is it? It is a thick barrier. You stand no chance."

"I love when you say that, doc. Makes me chuckle inside." Sonic took a walk around the room like he owned it. "Still, I gotta admit you caught me off guard."

"To say it creatively, Sonic: you're screwed. Again. While _your_ enhanced state will only last so long, _I _have mechanically engineered my Chaos energy to neutralize itself, releasing into this wonderful vessel at the same pace it can regenerate. In _your _terms, that means I am recycling it and using it continuously. Of course, Sonic, my offer still stands. I strongly encourage you to deposit your energy into the Egg Carrier 2 now, and surrender the Master Emerald. You see, I will still need it to prevent the escape of everyone else once I land. Oh, why so surprised? Did you think I ditched that plan just because I hit a bump in the road?" Eggman laughed. "No. These people are still _mine._"

"How can you be so sure?" Sonic asked, watching Eggman adjust his glasses once more. He wondered why he kept doing that. "They're not yours unless they choose to be!"

"Or unless they are _forced _to be. Have you forgotten that bit already?" The scientist swiveled around in his chair, then crossed one leg over the other and smiled broadly. "Sonic, isn't this nice. Being able to sit back and have a chat instead of fighting. I think so, anyway; I'm enjoying shoving my victory in your face."

"Shove it somewhere else, doc," Sonic said dryly. "You haven't won yet."

Eggman laughed some more, looking way too gleeful about something. Suddenly the air felt wrong.

"Dear hedgehog. Let us converse back in time for a few minutes. Yes, several weeks ago, to a plan that you probably think is old news now. Over the years I have sought out a way to use the Chaos Emeralds to my own advantage, as you know. For one particular attempt in recent memory, I… requested your cooperation. Yes, I can tell by the look on your face that you know _exactly _what I'm talking about."

Sonic turned away stubbornly, crossing his arms and staring out the window.

"Mm, delicious reaction, Sonic. It pleases me to know I've actually bothered you a bit."

"You're crazy."

"You see, Sonic, I have realized something. I confess up front that for a while, I could not see beyond my own arrogance to understand what I understand today."

"What's that, doc?" the blue blur asked, not turning to face him. He already knew the answer.

"That time I tried to get you to use Chaos energy for a reason you had never used it before. You both outlasted and outwitted me that day. You knew – didn't you? – that I would not recognize your deception. And that cost me dearly."

"Go on then," Sonic murmured. The hedgehog wasn't one to harbor bitterness. But he wanted to hear the doctor _say _it. _Tell me I won, doc._ "Spit it out."

"You swore you couldn't use the energy to break free. For fear instead of for selflessness or altruism or whatever it is you people _usually_ call upon those gems for." The doctor's gaze settled on Sonic's back. The hedgehog was still facing the other way and gazing out the window, at the endless sky ahead. "It was a lie. You never _tried_ to use Chaos energy. You endured, so that I would think the negative energy wouldn't work for my own cause. So that I would never get the chance to know if I could control you with it, or anyone else."

Sonic whirred back around and said, "Dingdingdingding."

"Now for what _you _don't know. Those were no normal devices under your skin. It was Chaos energy that kept you in check more than anything, whenever I or my robots needed to stop you from moving. That same energy you could have escaped with – was already inside you. It would have been so easy."

"I hope you're not expecting me to feel sorry for myself _now._ Seriously, doc—" Sonic crossed his arms. "You wouldn't have let me go, anyway, in the end. I realized that later. The energy was yours, so the second I used it you would've been able to manipulate me. Otherwise, why even bother?" The hedgehog dropped his arms to his sides. "So yeah. You_ didn't_ recognize any of your mistakes earlier. You didn't even realize Espio had infiltrated the tower, and that he and Tails were helping me stop your plans from the inside the whole time. My friends and I freed Meka Tower, Eggster. And here we are."

"So where does that leave us, hedgehog? If I _had_ recognized my flaws earlier, I perhaps I could have stopped you first. Or perhaps I could have proceeded with my plans for control anyway, banking on probability. But instead I set it aside."

"If only you'd known me just a little better than you already do, doc, you would have known all along that I was sneaking around under your nose, letting you think you broke me." Sonic met Eggman's eyes. "Don't you realize I just don't quit?"

"Proud of yourself?" Eggman spat.

"Actually, I kinda am," Sonic said, laughing a little. "But, I mean, wow. You were _so close…_"

"_I get it already!_" the doctor bellowed. "But it doesn't matter! Now that I know everything, I will succeed just as I would have before!"

"Nope," Sonic said, shaking his head. "You're too late, doc. Besides, even if you _could _give feed these prisoners your negative Chaos energy or whatever, how do you know it'd work? You never found out, remember?"

Sonic knew. When he destroyed the second scanner and quickly discovered he had been infected with Eggman's Chaos energy… it was only Amy and his other friends who had kept him from falling into its dark grasp. If _everyone _had been under that kind of influence, it would have been hell.

"Tell me."

Sonic shrugged and played dumb. "All I know is that they're driven by emotion more than anything, and anybody who had the nightmare of _you _trying to control them…" Sonic shook his head. "You had the Emeralds, Eggie, not me and not anyone else in that tower. So… whatever that implies."

Eggman looked crestfallen. "I… it would have worked."

The blue blur couldn't help but feel a sense of smug satisfaction, standing there watching Eggman realize every single mistake he had made.

"You are still here," Eggman murmured under his breath. "My prisoners are still here. And I can still produce more Chaos Drives. If you think this is…"

"_Sonic!_" Tails's voice interrupted their intense conversation, pushing through static in the communicator. "I'm outside the Egg Carrier 2, in the Tornado! Listen to me, okay?"

"O-okay, bro," Sonic said, despite that Eggman could hear them. It didn't matter. "What's the plan?"

"Power down."

"_What?_"

"Power down, Sonic. Direct your energy into the Tornado. Maybe you can't go through the barrier, but Chaos energy can!"

Sonic looked at the communicator nervously, then at Eggman (who raised his eyebrows in a well-go-on-then sort of way), then back at the communicator again. This was… this was so counterintuitive. Power down? That Chaos energy was all he had. If Tails's idea didn't work – whatever it was – then Eggman would have the chance to get the Master Emerald again, and succeed at keeping hold of the prisoners.

"_Sonic…!_"

Sonic whirred around to look out the window. The Tornado was right there. He could see the urgency in Tails's big blue eyes; a look that was begging for his trust and cooperation.

But there was so much at stake. For the world… for everything they had accomplished so far. For him, too.

He broke off eye contact from the fox, for the first time not knowing what to do.

Xxx

"_He saved me the trouble of looking for him. Now I'll get him good!" – Knuckles, Sonic Adventure_

Xxx

Finding that quote made me remember the music that always plays in Sonic Adventure when Chaos pops up. You know, that low, tense-sounding music. Always had me on edge as a kid.

Anyway, next chapter should be soon enough! Would love to know what you thought in the meantime, however much or little that might be. ;) 'Til next time!


	39. Chapter 38: In Isolation

DanceDream: I know, wasn't that movie just wonderful? I saw it too, and Sonic or not, that movie was just so cute and touching. :3 Oh, no worries! That honestly wasn't directed at anyone in particular, and the main reason I said that is BECAUSE I totally understand being busy especially this time of year (things have been hectic for me too and I've taken a bit of a break myself lately), so I just didn't want people to feel funny about reviewing shorter or less or whatever sometimes. Though of course I worded it wrong and made it sound like _I _had a problem with it (fix'd now) – I still of course love and appreciate when people _do _say something (who doesn't?), I just don't want it to have to be chore-ish for folks to do so, that's all. :) And yeah, heh, I suppose that is the question people are supposed to be wondering: where did Imposter even come from? But it'll make sense soon enough, as well as a few other things that haven't made sense yet. And thanks so much; I'm so glad you like my Sonic! I quite like him too, I gotta admit! C: As for the semi-cliffhanger, this chapter picks up right where that left off, so that'll be answered too. Thanks a lot, glad you liked the chapter! Enjoy!

x

Hiya guys. I know I keep saying updates will be faster, and that I'm gonna catch up with stuff soon – and I still fully intend to do that, I haven't forgotten about anything. (Hi there! *waves at everyone*) But, I'm not gonna try to convince myself or you guys that that'll be tomorrow. This has been one hell of a semester, in more ways than one, and honestly I can't even begin to explain how hectic things have been. O_o However, I will have a break in less than a month, during which I see no reason I can't actually finally _do _all this stuff I'm saying I'm gonna do. The intent is there – the time is not! xD

In the meantime, updates actually _will _be relatively faster from here 'til the end (for real this time), because I've gotten ahead and gotten most of the remaining chapters all ready to post. (And there are only a few at this point – you'll be able to tell by the end of this chapter, most likely, that we're narrowing in here.) Hope you enjoy!

CHAPTER 38: IN ISOLATION

"You know, I'm glad you found me before Espio caught your trail," Knuckles said, exchanging blows with Imposter, both of them on their feet and oriented now. "I wanted the chance to tear you apart."

"It's a shame… you'll miss that opportunity either way. I am much, much stronger than you, echidna. You don't even know the half of it."

The words unnerved Knuckles, and he had a good idea why. But he wasn't going to back down now. He was stronger than that. He had to be.

_I have to be. For my sacred duty, and for the world._

And suddenly everything was clear.

He had viewed himself as being isolated for so long because of his duty, not only because of the physical distance between Angel Island and the rest of the world, but because of the sacred, ancient purpose involved in protecting the Master Emerald.

It had seemed pointless, something done only out of reverence for his ancestors. His purpose had seemed so isolated, while everyone else's purposes had seemed so intertwined and… selfless.

But now he realized his purpose had never been isolated from everyone else's. It was interwoven, too. His goal… was everyone's goal.

Every time Eggman had stolen or shattered the Master Emerald, Knuckles had been there to recover or restore it. In large part, it was because of his diligence that the world had remained safe and free. Now was no different. The Master Emerald needed to be protected against Eggman… and by extension, lives would be saved.

And he wasn't bound to Angel Island this time. He was down on earth, with his comrades… free. And so many times, his duty had given him a taste of the same free life and sense of adventure that he had watched Sonic indulge in so many times. Now, he didn't envy the hedgehog's lifestyle. Not anymore. This – guarding the sacred relic that had been entrusted to him – was what he wanted to do. This was his freedom.

With the reality of his life suddenly so transparent before him, Knuckles focused himself and fought with strong, authentic, reckless passion.

xxx

Hesitating wasn't something Sonic did often. But for once, he couldn't afford not to. If he listened to Tails, and Tails wasn't able to get him out, he would have abandoned the Chaos energy he had absorbed for nothing.

But what use was it to him anyway? He couldn't break out with it. He had already tried. What use was it, beyond the comfort it provided with its presence?

Still…

"Sonic, can you hear me? Please listen to me! Trust me!"

"Tails, you don't understand what's going on…"

"I don't have to! Don't you want to get out?"

Eggman had risen from his seat and was urgently hovering over the small control panel before him. He was going to shoot at the plane.

"Tails, get out of here. I'll find a way out."

"No! Whatever's going on, it's something you need to help stop, and you can't do it if you're stuck on that thing! _Please, _Sonic, you have to trust me!"

Sonic realized he should have acted a few seconds ago, like he usually would have. He should have listened. Each second that went by was making it worse. "I do trust you!" he said. "But Eggman's about to blast the Tornado out of the sky! You have to move!"

"I'm not going _anywhere_, Sonic! Not until you're in here with me!"

That was it. The words were spoken with such finality and vigor that Sonic had no choice but to believe them. Making the only decision he could make with his brother in such danger, he released the Chaos energy within him, directing it at the Tornado. His aura disappeared and suddenly he felt very heavy on his feet.

The Tornado took full advantage of the energy. In a matter of mere seconds, it had adopted the same bright glow that Sonic had. Before he blinked it launched a huge laser at the bulletproof glass. It tore through it like paper and then hit the shield Eggman was behind, shattering that too.

When the dust cleared, the doctor had been reduced to a frightened mess, glasses and coat askew as he brushed debris off himself.

Tails kept bringing the plane forward, and landed right inside the pilot's room. "About time!" he said, smiling at Sonic. "What's up with you?"

"It's fine now," Sonic said. "Thanks, Tails."

"Sure thing! Guess I cleared my _own _path to the pilot's room. Should have done it this way from the start!"

"Heh, yeah, I guess you should've! So much for me being here!"

"You know, Sonic, can't say I didn't warn you how risky all this was. But you were right. About everything. I should never have doubted you."

Sonic gestured to the Tornado. "I shouldn't have doubted you either, buddy. Guess we're even now, eh?"

Tails chuckled. It was a joyful, wholehearted, relieved sound. Sonic ruffled his bangs with one hand, happy they were cool with each other.

"You should get out of here, Sonic. You've got stuff to do, don't you? I'll land this thing as best as I can."

"Okay," the hedgehog answered before turning to Eggman. "But you're coming too. And don't even inch towards the door. I can stop you long before you take the first step."

"Not very strong without your robots," Tails said to the mad scientist, "are you?"

"Nobody asked for your input, mutant," Eggman hissed.

Sonic's eyes flashed with rage. "Nobody asked for your _existence, _Eggman! You're lucky I'm even offering a flight to the surface at this point. Get in the Tornado now, before I change my mind and let you down to the surface a different way!"

"Sonic… I'm okay," Tails said quietly, looking over his shoulder at the mutation in question. "I don't really care what _Eggman_ thinks about me."

"Well _I _do," Sonic replied, still holding his glare over the doctor unflinchingly. "And he can consider this a warning. Hopefully now he knows better than to say the wrong thing to my friends. Right, Eggman?"

Eggman was already dragging his bodyweight into the Tornado, knowing better than to try and hold his position on the fortress now. He flopped in the back seat miserably, making the plane bounce, and looked away with an indignant grunt. Sonic got in the front seat and revved up the plane for takeoff.

"I wonder if I would have a better chance of survival if I just jumped off the edge of the fortress," Eggman mused mockingly.

"I dunno. Feel like finding out?" Sonic asked, glancing over at him. "This is my plane, Eggster. I don't think it'd still be here if I was _that _bad of a pilot."

Tails cleared his throat. "Well, um, I'm kind of the one who always uses it."

"Yeah, well."

Cutting off abruptly, Sonic took off. The floor of the Egg Carrier 2 disappeared beneath them as the Tornado soared away. It wasn't exactly an ideal takeoff, as there was no runway, but he quickly accelerated the plane to compensate and reached a steady equilibrium in the air. "Hey all, it's me," he said into his communicator. "And I've taken the captor captive!"

There were a few giggles and snickers in response. Eggman, behind him, sighed.

"Do you recite lame jokes and puns to your friends on a regular basis?"

Sonic's grin filled with irony. "If only you _knew_, Egghead. But, I think they're laughing more at the fact that you _lost _than they are at my lame jokes."

"Hmph."

"What's that? I expected more of a response from you."

Eggman didn't oblige Sonic with an answer. For the next few minutes, their ride was very, very quiet. It was odd. Very few times had the two enemies been in each other's presence and _not _had something to say.

Sonic idly wondered if there was a reason for it.

xxx

"_Umph!_"

Knuckles could feel sand and sweat caking into his fur, but didn't dignify it with acknowledgement. Fire in his eyes, he got back to his feet as Imposter approached him with a smug expression.

"Stop fighting me, and abandon this effort with the little pride you have left," Imposter growled. He came at Knuckles with a hook punch to the temple. Knuckles stepped back swiftly, avoiding it, and kicked the other echidna hard in the knee.

"That's ironic," he said, watching Imposter's face tighten in agony as he fell to the ground. "If you ask me, pride lies in being able to say you _didn't _abandon the fight. Perhaps you and I aren't so similar in the end. Been following Eggman's example?"

"Shut up!"

Knuckles kicked him in the head. Or tried to. Imposter evaded at the last second, then got up before Knuckles could set his foot back down and regain normal balance. He dove at Knuckles, punching him in the gut rapidly several times on their way down. Tightening his abdominal muscles, the guardian took the blows readily and delivered a few of his own. They were both so accustomed to fighting. It was such an innate ability that they hit each other again and again, neither of them yielding or pulling away.

When there was a break in the shower of attacks, Imposter took the opportunity and reached for Knuckles's face, aiming a thumb towards one eye.

"_Agh!_" Knuckles pushed Imposter away from himself and scrambled backwards, rubbing his eye where the fake echidna had just barely begun to push. It would be sore, but he realized it could have been a lot worse.

Ugh. A _lot _worse.

In the midst of his moment of distraction, Imposter reached for him again, clutching a handful of his dreadlocks and pulling.

"_AHHHH!_"

"How's that for you, guardian?" Imposter asked, drawing back his free hand – but instead of trying to back away from the punch, Knuckles threw himself into Imposter before it could land, and they both went to the ground. The guardian threw blind strikes and kicks, rage and determination amplified.

He felt a strike land firmly in the middle of Imposter's chest. It stopped the other momentarily, and so Knuckles kept hitting, taking full advantage. Imposter's sternum cracked beneath his relentless blows. He didn't have to see it to know he was doing damage.

Imposter's face contorted in the kind of pain a robot couldn't possibly express. His limbs, previously readied for strikes, collapsed onto the ground beneath him. Open and surrendered.

Despite how fervently he had wanted to defeat the fake echidna pinned beneath him, Knuckles was suddenly very lightheaded. For a moment he hovered above the other with a shocked look in his violet eyes. Then, as if reality had just caught up with him, he got up and staggered back.

Even through the skin and fur, he could see that Imposter's chest and ribs were destroyed.

That was a living being. Another echidna. Knuckles felt like a monster. He had sworn it was a robot. Even after seeing the blood, there was no way it could have been another echidna.

But it was.

"Hey… whoever you are…" Knuckles began quietly, wanting so badly now to find some good in this member of his species. "Why'd you do this? Why… why'd you listen to Eggman?"

Imposter's eyes snapped open. Knuckles felt his own widen. "Sympathy, already? Oh dear, you are a softie. And I'm apparently supposed to be just like you."

Knuckles looked from Imposter's injuries and back to eyes that held no pain. "Who are you…?"

Imposter's response was a dark laugh. His body began to glow purple from the strength of Chaos Emeralds Knuckles could not see. His dreadlocks extended, becoming longer and even sharper than before. His violet eyes became eerily bright in color; unnaturally bright.

Knuckles took an involuntary step back. "Chaos energy? Wait… _Who are you!?_"

Imposter did not answer. His frighteningly vibrant eyes closed. He shot up in height and stature, becoming at least twice Knuckles's size. The muscles of his chest, arms and legs began to grow at an accelerated rate, stretching out the skin they resided underneath.

The dark purple glow took over his entire body. Knuckles couldn't even see the red of his fur through it. It was only a huge, thick, glowing freak of nature. Transformation gone horribly wrong – or perhaps for Imposter, horribly right.

"You were supposed to be just like me?" Knuckles asked, face unreadable. "Did Eggman have you trying to act out my role? I don't know what he's done to you… but you are nothing like me." The guardian's voice turned into a menacing growl that, unlike his counterpart, had nothing to do with Chaos energy. "And you never will be."

Imposter had no response but to pummel into him with devastating force, throwing him across the area until his trajectory was cushioned by the side of a sand dune.

Knuckles tried to get up, but long before he could complete the maneuver, he was driven further into the sand. Powered up by who knew how much Chaos energy, Imposter easily burst back out of it. But Knuckles had no such help. The light of the evening sun disappeared, being replaced with itchy, sandy darkness. It got in his socks and shoes. His nose. His eyes. He moved his hands and feet frantically, trying to push his way out of it. But he couldn't even tell what direction he was going in. He was dizzy from Imposter's attack…

Desperately, he produced a loud groan, hoping someone would hear his distress through the communicator. He hated asking for help, but he _needed_ help. Normally he could dig himself through something as light as sand, but at the moment, he couldn't even tell which way was up, and he was disoriented and hurt.

Either way, there was no response. His voice was too muffled by the sand all around him. No one had heard.

Despite how much he had finally come to consider himself a part of the team, Knuckles was dangerously alone now.

Isolated once more.

Xxx

Something changed on the flight down. The further they descended from the Carrier 2, the more Eggman found himself returning down to earth in the moral sense, too. He questioned himself. Questioned his motives and the paths he had taken in an attempt to reach them. Questioned his own purpose.

The last time he had done such a thing was when he had been away seeking Chaos Emeralds in the ruins. Even he was forced to notice how he had changed. It was something he had pushed to the back corner of his mind. But with nothing else to focus on, he couldn't help but acknowledge it now. To a degree, though, it had seemed beyond his control. Almost as if…

"You're awfully quiet, doc." Sonic's voice split the silence along with Eggman's train of thought. "Where's the taunts? The claims?"

For a few moments, the scientist could only validate Sonic's words, continuing to be silent. He was on a plane with only his archenemy, and the mood was heavy and sobering. What did you say in a situation like that?

"Sonic…" Eggman began in an emotionally-strained voice. Of course he had more to say than that one word, but for another long moment, he couldn't seem to bring it forth. Sonic looked over the back of the pilot's seat at him curiously, the obvious question in his eyes. The doctor drew a breath. "I think I would like to offer you an apology."

Sonic continued flying the Tornado, looking ahead again, the curious frown still in place on his face. "You think?"

Eggman sighed deeply, giving Sonic an impression of sincerity, though he wasn't entirely sure why the scientist would feel compelled to apologize. This was Ivo Robotnik, one of the most unremorseful people he knew, with persistence and self-assurance to match. But now he sounded so… uncertain.

"What happened in Meka Tower was overkill. It was… it was cruel. Perhaps even unnecessary, as I could have just taken the risk without knowing the truth about the Chaos Emeralds. But at the time, the people's rebellion was nigh insurmountable, and here I was with a way to…" he cut off and started again. "By and large, I hate you, Sonic. You must understand that by now. And at the time, I wanted to crush your dreams and your spirit like you've crushed mine so many times."

"Classy."

"I have dreams too, Sonic. Very different ones than yours. Controversial ones. Perhaps 'evil' ones since that's how you see it. Think how you would feel if you ever lost to me, or were unable to help one of your silly friends, or were simply truly and utterly defeated. That is how you make me feel every… single… time… that one of my carefully constructed, devoted plans are destroyed by your hand."

"Sucks to be you," Sonic muttered somewhat apathetically, still a little too riled up about the doctor's remarks to Tails earlier to be the better person like he might have been otherwise.

"Yet in retrospect… Despite our differences, you have always done only what you had to do to defeat me. You are my enemy, yet you have shown mercy. Even though I suffer in my defeat regardless, you have treated me with fairness. I owe you the same courtesy, and despite the things I have said and done even recently, I want you to know I would not have put you in the kinds of situations I put you in again even if given the opportunity."

The blue blur was silent for a long time. He knew Eggman was referring not to his plot, probably not to the long-term captivity, not even to the brutal fight they'd had over the Master Emerald. He was apologizing for one thing only.

It was food for thought, the fact that he would apologize at all. He let the silence linger as he worked out how he felt about Eggman's words. Finally, after what had to be a whole minute – tense irritation was practically rolling off Eggman – the hedgehog spoke.

"You know… we kid around with each other a lot. Never really act like we take each other seriously. But at the core, you're just as serious about your ambitions as I am about mine. I guess I respect your determination, Eggman, even though I'm not fond of the reasons behind it."

Eggman, for once, was quiet. Coming from someone like Sonic, appreciation of fortitude was a huge compliment.

"…And I guess what I'm getting at is that you did what you thought you had to do to defeat me, too. Just so happens, it takes way more to defeat me." Sonic laughed once under his breath. "You could never stop me with your robots and whatnot. So you aimed to stop me, and everyone, in a different way instead of recycling the same old methods." He paused, and his next words were spoken with a slight air of humbleness that his experience had given him: "You hit where it hurt. I gotta say you know me better than I wish you did."

"Not that that matters, in the end," the doctor said, his voice almost unable to be heard over the humming of the Tornado's engine. They were nearly back to ground… but Eggman's hopes were far below the ground. He had been put back in his place, forced back into his usual harsh reality, and as a result, had returned to a more normal state of being from the dangerous monster he had become for a while. His mind was down on Earth again, like the rest of him.

Eggman had always been evil, as far as Sonic was concerned. He still was, even now. But _that _evil? Only once.

"I truly thought my plans would work this time," the doctor continued in a defeated, disappointed voice. "I thought I had discovered the recipe to reach my goal, with what the Chaos Emeralds are capable of…"

"Well, nothing ever seems to work out the way _either _of us think it will," Sonic said with a lighthearted shrug. "Nice to hear you've gotten your share of tough luck, too."

"Would it have mattered if things had gone differently? If I had come to realization in time to exploit the Chaos Emerald's power the way I wanted to? Perhaps… perhaps you still would have stopped me."

_Dear Chaos, enough about that already. _"Are you trying to make yourself feel better, or worse?" Sonic remarked, looking back at him. "We would have stopped you either way and you know it."

Eggman sighed again. "I have always admired your resilience, Sonic, but it can be incredibly irritating sometimes."

"I could say the same to you," the hedgehog said, smiling, then turned his head forward again to land the plane. He had said those words to Eggman before, probably more than once, but it wasn't very often he meant them in a good way.

The Tornado landed, wheels getting buried in the sand. Hedgehog and human alike lurched forward in their respective seats as it came to a rough, forced halt. Then they climbed out onto one of the wings and lowered themselves to the ground from there, facing each other when they did.

Though he was standing tall, dignified, Eggman scrunched his facial muscles as if in pain, hating the question that came out of his mouth next. "So… do you… accept my apology, then?"

Sonic glanced off at the horizon line where the sun had recently finished setting, considered for a moment, and said, "No."

In spite of everything, Eggman was shocked. He had always observed Sonic as having a remarkable capacity to forgive. Had he really crossed that far over the line?

Eggman had wanted to damage that smug spirit. Only now did he realize how strange and alien that prospect was. Only now did he realize… over the years, he had come to find satisfaction not only in the idea of world conquest, but in the battle it was taking to get there. The journey itself. He… _liked _fighting Sonic, on some odd level. Because the hedgehog was who he was.

_You are my enemy… yet… What have I done?_

Those emerald eyes turned back to him, and Sonic finally elaborated in a voice of soft but stubborn resolution. "It's over now," he said quietly, "and I don't need your apology."

His words were not because he couldn't forgive his enemy. He just felt so far removed from the prospect of ever expecting an apology from the scientist. It was just an impossible breach of status quo. After all, he couldn't imagine ever apologizing to Eggman, despite that he had shattered his plans and defeated him time and time again. That would just be… weird. They were supposed to be opponents, here.

Not to mention, as far as Sonic was concerned, if Eggman was really all that sorry… then he had a lot more people to apologize to than just him. Eggman had broken many a spirit in Meka Tower, regardless of Sonic putting a lot of them back together including his own – and so only the doctor's future actions could determine whether he really meant the words.

"You… are a rare kind of individual, Sonic," Doctor Eggman said after a moment, looking down at him with something like respect, though the frustrated conflict still lingered there. Sonic could see it in his face; the scientist wasn't enjoying the odd nature of this conversation any more than he was.

"But Eggman? While we're on the subject… don't ever do anything like that again."

The doctor chuckled, darkness returning to its rightful place in his demeanor. "What happened to 'I wouldn't change a thing,' Sonic?"

Some of the lightness fell from Sonic's eyes. "I'm not talking about what _I _wouldn't change," he clarified lowly. "You held people captive. And you let them get hurt. You let them starve. People _died _in there." He paused. "I can forgive you for what you did to me, doc, if that's all you're after. In fact, I do. I don't need to cling onto my worse days like you do. But I can't forgive you on anyone else's behalf. That's _their _place, not mine."

The doctor was caught off by Sonic's sudden ferocity and actually took a step back.

"I could so easily have finished you off a little while ago, doc. And so many times before." He paused. "But lucky for you, you're a person just like they are."

"Don't pretend you're that noble, Sonic. We both know you'd be bored without me."

It was so much easier treating each other like dirt.

"I never denied that either," Sonic said with a momentary smile. He reached up and scratched his nose. "But if I ever see anything like what I saw in the lower floors of Meka Tower again… you will regret it."

"Only if I can't make you regret raising a finger against me first," Eggman said. "I hope for both of our sakes that you know that our little instance of truce is merely the eye of the storm. Sleep lightly, hedgehog, for I am not giving up. The odds will be stacked just as highly against you next time as they were this time."

Sonic grinned at him; grinned at the challenge held in his words and the persistence etched into the creases of his face. He wouldn't give up either, but they both knew that sentiment didn't need to be said aloud. Instead, he simply said, "Wouldn't have it any other way."

Xxx

"_Wow, will I really get that crazy?" –Eggman, Generations_

Xxx

Lol quote relevance. Was also thinking of throwing his remark about the teaching degree in there but there might be a better chapter for that.

Now if Eggman was the _only _enemy there was, the story would probably be getting to the end right around here. But (un)fortunately…

Hope you liked the read! See you guys next time.


	40. Chapter 39: All Along

DanceDream: Oh wow, nice timing. XD I had just been about to update this, checked my email and saw a notification, heh. And thanks! Wow, yeah, eheh… that is a lot and I… gosh, what can I even say other than thanks, to you and everyone else, for those lovely and heart-warming contributions. :) And yeah, Sonic doesn't fly the Tornado very much but I like to have him fly it now and then just because it's his, and it's a cool mental image to me for whatever reason. x3 'Besides the final boss, that is.' Haha, what gave it away? ;) Lol that conversation is awkward. What do those two even say to each other after all this. xD I kinda felt bad for them both. Glad you liked it though. I typed that out like three different ways before it looked right because it was like, Oh boy, what am I gonna do with you two? :P Anyway, thanks very much DanceDream, and enjoy your Christmas endeavors!  
>x<p>

Haaaiiii. I know, I'm late again and I've still been remarkably absent from FFN overall – but I can finally (hopefully) safely say that things are better now and a lot less busy. The semester's over and I've finished all my work, I just had a surgery go very well earlier this week with no further concerns thus far, and I am fricking happy! …And tired! But I did wanna hop on and update this because time has snuck by once again.

Also, I keep forgetting to mention this. For those wondering – and to clear up the probably-misleading info on my profile that some of you caught wind of earlier in the year – this story will not in fact have a sequel. There are loose ends and potential for a few... side stories? Spin-offs? Well, _some _kind of accompaniment anyway, most likely in the form of one or two shorter stories. But apart from the ideas that Survivor's Resolve itself birthed, a few of which you may or may not notice still need to be tied up… it was meant to be a standalone, I think.

Other than that, not much to say, so as always I hope you like the new chapter!

Edit: OH and also! For anyone who's interested, **Soulfully Sadistic** wrote a fic about my fic called Resolute Will. Takes place sometime while Sonic, Lucas and Amber are still in Meka Tower, and they're written nicely - kinda neat reading characters you came up with written well by someone else! Anyway, check it out if you want more where SR's Meka Tower portions came from - if you like this story I wouldn't be surprised if that one caught your interest too.

xxx

CHAPTER 39: ALL ALONG

"Sonic!"

Upon hearing his name, the blue blur dug his heels into the ground and halted himself, making a rush of sand go everywhere including all over him. It also coated Lucas, who was a few yards away and had previously been running towards him eagerly. Now he was stopped too, the hand he had been waving with halted in midair. He dropped it anticlimactically to his side, and sand poured out of his sleeve, adding another small dune to the vast ones surrounding them.

"Lucas, nice to see ya!" Sonic smiled as if one of his friends being coated in sand was in fact completely normal, and as if he hadn't been the cause of it. "How's the leg been?"

"Sore still, but really good, all things considered. I'm in no place to complain, really. Amber did a good job."

"That's good to hear. So what's up?"

"I was looking for you. No luck finding the chao yet, so I was thinking of wandering back into Meka Tower. See if they're still in there somewhere. The Tornado around?"

"Yeah," Sonic replied, "I was just coming from it. Want me to give you a lift over the fence?"

"Yeah, that'd be great. Hey, look."

Sonic followed Lucas's pointing finger. The Egg Carrier 2 soared over them, coming ever closer to ground again. It was moving straight and smooth. "Looks like Tails is doing a decent job!" he said. "They should all be on the ground in no time."

The friends began walking in the direction Sonic had come from, making their way towards the biplane. After a while, Lucas looked at him out of the corner of his eye and said, "You look confused, Sonic."

"Huh?" Sonic snapped out of his thoughts, not realizing he had been thinking about anything in particular at all until Lucas had made note of it. "Oh. I guess running into you just reminded me of something I was thinking about earlier."

"What's that?"

"It's… just kinda funny that the people who came to my defense earlier, like you and Knuckles, are the ones who… were with me in Meka Tower. Seems kind of backwards, doesn't it? I mean, you guys got the worst of me. I was awful moody in there."

"Maybe so. But no one's perfect, Sonic, and we got the _best _of you in that tower, too." Lucas smiled genuinely. "That's why Tails and Amy don't get it, you know. If they knew what you were capable of the way Knuckles and I know… they would know how insulting it was to try and stop a force like you."

Sonic looked away, his face suddenly feeling quite warm. Lucas saw a pink tint in his cheeks, and though it could have been the residual light from the sun, which had just recently descended to its slumber… he was pretty sure it wasn't.

"We're actually doing this," Lucas said. "Look at how far we've come. Look how life has happened."

"I was just thinking the same thing."

"How's it feel to be free, Sonic?"

The hedgehog smiled as he again glanced off, taking in the view of the pink sky resting atop the gentle sand dunes. Lucas watched him, happy beyond words to see him in his element… really, for the first time.

"I was free all along."

Lucas watched him with a raised eye ridge for a moment. He got the feeling Sonic wanted him to understand on his own, and after a moment, he did. "Me too, Sonic," he said with quiet energy. "Me too."

xxx

Knuckles closed his eyes.

The action was pointless, really. They were already filled with grainy, scratchy sand. It was more out of strenuous effort than anything else, though. He grunted and growled under his breath, trying not to swallow sand. It was dark, restricting, and suffocating… and _way _too hot. Ignoring all the sensations, he dug his way through it like the echidna he was, trying to find a way out. But even though he was one of the most physically strong people he knew, it was proving difficult.

Just how far had Imposter shoved him down, anyway? Granted he had a ton of Chaos energy on his side, but still…

_C'mon… c'mon…_

His perception of everything was screwed up. He had recovered from the impacts of the blows, but the resulting disorientation wasn't going to fix itself. Normally he could dig well, but he was dizzy and weak and shaky. It was impossible to know whether he should be going left or right, forward or backward... For some reason it reminded him of swimming, except sand was way more stubborn and uncomfortable than water.

Suddenly he felt a lot less resistance on his left arm. The hot breeze rustled the fur there, and sand cascaded out of his glove.

_About time_.

Just as Knuckles was about to dig himself out entirely, a hand grasped his and tugged hard. He reacted instinctively, wanting to attack the individual as soon as he could see them, but stopped short. He… _couldn't_ see them.

"Espio?"

"Shh," the chameleon hissed, becoming more visible but not entirely as he met the guardian's eyes. "That fake is nearby. Don't draw his attention; he doesn't know I'm here yet, or that you've been dug out."

"Well," Knuckles said dryly, "I guess you found him."

Espio laughed once without humor. "I apologize. It was my assignment to track him down. I did not expect him to be so close to where we already were, so I contacted Vector and Charmy to see if they knew anything. At any rate, I'm here now. Are you hurt?"

"Don't worry about me. Go help Tails or something. The kid could probably use it."

"Are you certain about that? You look like you could use a hand yourself."

"Positive."

"You're doing the very things you criticize Sonic for."

Knuckles glowered at him. "Will you _stop saying that?_"

"No. You're being foolish. Perhaps you have a grudge against this fellow, but it doesn't change the fact that many more people could be in danger if he is not stopped. If you refuse to let me help _you_, at least let me help _them_. Would taking that perspective help your pride issues?"

"Pride issues." Knuckles scoffed. "Since when did you become so damn noble, anyway? You don't give a care about these prisoners. You just care about your income."

For the first time in Knuckles's memory, Espio looked genuinely affronted. He almost wanted to take back the offhanded remark, but the window of opportunity was gone as soon as it came, as was the rare expression on the detective's face.

He disappeared in a blustery swirl. Knuckles could only watch as his footprints stormed away, and even those disappeared after a few seconds as the gusts of wind rearranged the sand.

It was never a conscious decision to think what he thought next, but the notion seemed to have no shame coming uninvited.

_I was never alone all the time because I live alone on Angel Island. I was alone because I chose to be._

"…Espio," he called. There was no response. "Espio!" he hollered again, growing frustrated. "You're still around, aren't you? Fine! Help me, then! There, I said it!"

If the chameleon was in fact still around, he didn't let on about it. For all intents and purposes, Knuckles had been abandoned. Just like he wanted.

Except he hadn't really wanted it anymore. Why did things always turn out that way?

Something caught his eye. Imposter was back, having heard him call Espio's name. But suddenly it all seemed insignificant. He tried to put himself back in the fight, but as he watched the Chaos-crazed being come at him, he realized he had made a huge mistake.

_It doesn't matter. I've got to fight you anyway._

xxx

"Y' know, we really shouldn't make a habit of visiting this place," Sonic remarked as they climbed out of the biplane and wandered into Meka Tower once more.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. You're worried about the front door slamming down behind us, right?"

"Can you blame me?" Sonic asked with a chuckle. "I've had an awful lot of doors slamming behind me lately."

Lucas considered that for a moment, then nodded. "It does make me a bit nervous too. Being in here again, I mean. Eggman's not here anymore, and neither are any of the androids, so there's really no reason to be worried. I guess there's just kind of a negative stigma attached to this place now."

"Well, what do you say we just go up a few floors or so? Then if we don't find anyone we'll have Tails check his radar thingy."

"Okay."

"Try not to worry _too _much," Sonic added. He nudged Lucas playfully. "After all, there's no wood to knock on in here."

They were walking past the first cell when something came out of it and pushed Sonic into the wall.

"Sonic!" Lucas cried in an alarmed voice… then both of them burst out in laughter.

A disappointed Kai was fluttering in their midst, looking and back and forth between them.

"Ah, I think he was aiming to tackle _you_, Lucas, not me."

In response, Kai plopped down between Sonic's ears and nodded eagerly. Then he glanced up at Lucas with a mischievous little smile.

"I don't care what anyone says," Lucas began, "you were, are, and always _will _be a dark chao. Smug bastard. And don't think Sonic's gonna be able to protect you just because you're sitting on his head."

"He's got a point, you know," the hedgehog teased. "After all, you just attacked me!"

For an instant, Kai looked self-conscious, then he remembered his company and relaxed. Even for a younger chao, he was small, able to get comfortable easily on the head of his blue comrade.

"Kai, are the other chao in here?"

He nodded, then gestured to the cell he had been in before Sonic's and Lucas's arrival. Just inside, a group of several dozen chao were watching them curiously, silently. Most were dark. A small handful had remained neutral. Sonic saw that some of them were in a single-file line up to the cell's faucet, each taking quick sips, a few hopping back in line for another.

"Ah, I see," the blue blur said, walking into the cell with them and turning up the faucet with a hand stronger than theirs. The lucky chao whose turn it was began to slurp greedily. When done, he smiled up at Sonic as if in thanks.

"What?" Lucas asked expectantly.

"Chao need a lot of water," he explained. "Remember? In fact, most of them colonize near really clean, freshwater areas. That's why they're all still in here. It's the only source of water around here, really. I mean, the ocean is close like I said before, but that's salt water."

"You think they'll be okay here?"

Sonic watched them drink contentedly. "I think so," he said. "After all, they've been living off this stuff for however long they were here."

"That's true," Lucas said. "Doesn't mean it's healthy for them to be in a place like this, though. Or many other places, for that matter. Water gets polluted easier than air."

"Well, innit convenient that that's your line of work?"

"Sure is. I really want to help these fellas. You guys gonna be okay in here for now?"

Kai, who was at the faucet now, splashed water as an answer, getting it on Lucas, Sonic and all the other chao.

"Dark chao indeed," Sonic muttered. "Stuff's lethal, you know."

Lucas gave him a sidelong glance. "All he did was splash us. Are you—"

"_Nooo_, I'm not serious," Sonic groaned. "Chaos, Lucas. I thought I convinced you I wasn't afraid of faucets, like, the week we met."

"Splash Sonic again, will you, Kai? He's being an-"

"What? No. Splash Lucas! You never tackled him, remember?"

Kai just watched them with an amused expression on his little face.

"At any rate—" Sonic turned around and began heading back where they had come from. "You and I should get out of here, Lucas. Now that we know the chao are fine and all, I've got some unfinished business to take care of."

"Right," Lucas said, following him. Kai saw them off as they rounded the curve and went out onto the ramp again.

"Tails might need this more, I'm not sure." Sonic gestured to the Tornado as they climbed in it. "So we'll go park it back where we were before."

"Then see if anyone found that echidna imposter?"

"Yeah, that'd probably be a good idea."

They flew in comfortable silence for a few minutes, the only contributor to the conversation being the plane's steady, mechanical rumble. Sonic started descending as soon as they were outside the fence; the area they had split off from the others wasn't all that far. Lucas waited until he landed to say anything, not sure how well the hedgehog could do so in such an environment. For the circumstances it was quite reasonable, though not as smooth and graceful as Tails tended to be.

"Hey, Sonic, what were you doing over here earlier anyway? When I ran into you? I mean, I expected you to be up on the Egg Carrier 2 still, since it hadn't landed yet."

"Ah, not too much," the hedgehog said casually. "Got stuck up there for a few minutes, saw Tails, got free, made Eggman feel bad for me."

"What…? Uh, never mind, we should probably wait until later to catch up."

"Probably," Sonic agreed. "There'll be plenty of time for chit-chat eventually."

"I'll go help out on the Egg Carrier 2 for now," Lucas said. "It's gotta be grounded by now. Amy and Amber are probably already over there."

"There'll be androids," Sonic warned.

"Oh, I know," Lucas said with a smirk, "that's why I'm going."

"Knock yourself out, then," Sonic said with a salute. "Or rather, don't."

Then the hedgehog took off at profound speeds without warning, breaking the sound barrier. Lucas watched the blue streak in awe.

If he hadn't been trapped with him for months, he would never be able to imagine Sonic – who had just covered thousands of feet in five seconds – in a tiny cell like that. It just seemed so impossible.

But then… he himself had been stuck in there too. Only in retrospect did he realize he too had prevailed against the odds. Smiling in spite of himself, Lucas made his way toward the site of the Egg Carrier 2.

. xxx

As Imposter rushed towards him, Knuckles felt a deep-settling understanding that something was very, very wrong.

Knuckles could only stare, paralyzed to the spot as the thing – was it even an echidna? – began to cackle as if it had been shocked. Its purple aura, for all its darkness, glowed immensely. If he wasn't seeing it, he would have thought it an impossible coalescence. Even as he watched the contrast between darkness and vibrancy intensify, it looked impossible. He looked away, and couldn't replicate the image in his mind.

…Impossible.

Through the glow, he could see the actual life behind it, if life was indeed what it was. Imposter's irises rolled back momentarily, hideously unfocused. His chest where Knuckles had punched it was mutilated beyond recognition. The Chaos energy had healed the injury, but the bones had been fused as they were, leaving his entire torso a bumpy mess. The muscles on Imposter's legs and arms became denser, but it didn't make him look built. It made him look grotesque. Monstrous. Disgusting. A nightmarish form of what he had been before.

It was at least a few feet taller than a large human… He had seen and faced bigger opponents before… But this one looked to be the same level of threat in a smaller package.

If not even more of a threat.

_What… what could be causing this?_

It couldn't be Chaos energy alone. The power of an Emerald was only chaotic in its execution, but the structure – the inner workings – of the gem were very structured, responding in specific ways to specific emotions, and working a little differently for everyone.

This… this was a crime of nature.

"Jeez, Knuckles, what'd you do?"

The echidna jumped, which elicited a chuckle from Sonic next to him.

"H-how long have you been there?"

"Long enough to watch you stand here slack-jawed for a while," the hedgehog answered.

"I want to stop it," Knuckles said. "…I don't know how."

"Sure you do, Knuckster."

"What?"

Sonic met his eyes briefly, looked back at Imposter, and shrugged. Then, before Knuckles could question him, he ran at it.

"Like this!"

"_Sonic!_ Are you suicidal!?"

"No! Which is exactly why we need to stop this thing as fast as we can!"

Knuckles watched him curl up and ram himself into the distorted chest of the figure. He met full resistance and bounced away without leaving a mark. There was no leeway. Imposter was like an immoveable object.

"Well, that didn't work," Sonic stated, coming to stand by Knuckles again.

"Imagine that."

"You're a mess, by the way," he added cheerfully – right before Imposter sprung forward and pounded him unceremoniously into the sand. Knuckles dodged a follow-up attack and then scooted a few yards to peel Sonic back up. The hedgehog groaned and coughed several times while dusting his front off.

"So. You were saying?" Knuckles asked sarcastically, brushing dirt off a spot Sonic had missed. The glowing monstrosity swept a large hand down fast and hard, catching the fighting partners off-guard once more and throwing them into the air. They flew along next to each other in trajectory, both trying to right themselves. At the peak of their ascent, Imposter smacked them both down to the ground, too impatient to wait for gravity. Hedgehog and echidna landed simultaneously face-plant style.

It had moved so fast…

"Have you come to regret raising a hand against me?" Imposter boomed. Its voice echoed unnaturally, carrying far over the dunes.

Sonic was laughing lightly under his breath as he dug his face free, its meaning lying somewhere between 'so we just totally got owned' and 'I love how he thinks we're gonna just give up.' Knuckles heard him and chuckled a little too.

"He's waiting to see if we'll get back up, Sonic." The echidna spoke without turning his head.

"Yup, I know. So let's figure something out before he gets too close and realizes we're bluffing."

"Grab my hand and run right at him. Let go at the last second and I'll punch as hard as I can. It'll have my strength, backed up by the momentum from your speed."

"My kinda tactic," Sonic agreed, and got up, grabbing the echidna's hand before he could add another word.

He looped around, carving a path in the sand and giving himself time to accelerate. Knuckles pretty much flew along behind him, unable to move his feet a third as fast as he would have need to. When they were facing Imposter again, Sonic released his hand, sending him right towards it. He stuck both fists out and slammed into its stomach…

And did absolutely no harm.

xxx

Espio ran through the dunes, slightly less graceful than usual as his feet got momentarily swallowed with each step. He was irritated at Knuckles's narrow remark, but that wasn't why he had taken off. If he was right, he thought he had seen…

"Eggman!"

The detective wasn't fond of screaming out the name of the person he was trying to follow, but in this one instance, it seemed worth it. Eggman couldn't outrun him anyway, but the sand and wind coated the atmosphere with a brown fog, and it was even worse now that it was nighttime. He didn't want to lose sight of the doctor; not in this huge area.

To his surprise, Eggman came to a halt, looking around for the source of the voice.

"Eggman," he said again, finishing his approach. "What are you doing?"

"I was making my way back towards my fortress, of course. What does it matter to you?"

"I suppose it doesn't. But what does matter is the substitute guardian you had keeping tabs on the Master Emerald. Something has happened."

Eggman went very still. "Oh dear."

xxx

"Knuckles. You okay?"

"Ugh… Y-yeah…"

Sonic held out a hand. Knuckles grabbed on and pulled himself up, nodding his thanks. "Well, it was a good shot anyway."

"Yeah. We'll have to figure out something else, I guess."

As Sonic and Knuckles recuperated and looked at each other, their thoughts were mutual and clear: _This is not good._

Sonic's communicator made a brief noise. Then Espio's voice came through it calmly: "Everyone who can hear this, check in as soon as you can. If you're anywhere near the guardian imposter, you must get away momentarily. I have news."

"What's _that _supposed to mean?" Knuckles snapped, dodging a kick that looked to Sonic like it could have broken every bone in the echidna's body. "We can't just leave Imposter to his own devices! He's gone insane! The Egg Carrier 2 isn't that far from here, and most everyone is still on it! He'll destroy everything!"

"Yeah, Es, we don't have much of a choice here!"

"Neither of you will be able to harm that thing!" Espio said, voice full of a commanding energy they rarely heard him use. "You must listen to me! I've encountered Eggman not too far away. Knuckles, that is why I left abruptly earlier."

Sonic deliberated for the slightest moment, then grasped Knuckles's wrist again and took off.

"What are you doing, hedgehog?"

"Listening to Espio. Just for a minute. Imposter won't get far with me around."

xxx

Espio handed Eggman the communicator. "Talk."

The doctor let out a frustrated sigh. "The Guardian Prototype, apparently known as Imposter to you all, is neither a robot nor a clone. He is, in fact… a life-form. Like Shadow.

"You see, I researched my grandfather's creation of Shadow and was able to understand his notes and method relatively well. I never agreed with Gerald's resolve to destroy the world – he was a vengeful man with purposes very different than mine. It would be terrible if the world was destroyed, for there would be nothing left for me to rule. But regardless of intent, Gerald Robotnik was a brilliant man with brilliant ideas."

"Get on with it, Eggman," Sonic interrupted over the communicator.

"The reason this clone is – or was – so good at faking Knuckles's personality is because I entered what I knew of Knuckles's history into his memory. That's why he had knowledge of the Master Emerald, of Angel Island, of the real Knuckles's friends, and of his history with the Chaotix. But I changed the parts where he would've thought he was guarding the Master Emerald because of his tribe's duty. Instead, I altered it so that he thought he was supposed to guard it for me, and told him not to blow his cover. For if he did that, the Master Emerald would be out of my hands. But it looks as though Tails, Amy and Espio saw through that and regained possession of it anyway."

The fox gasped. "So that _is _why he helped me when the Tornado crashed… One part of him knew not to blow his cover, and another part of him… really thought he was Knuckles."

"He… he is out of control now, though," Eggman said reluctantly. "Whatever of Knuckles's personality was there before is gone."

"Thank Chaos," the echidna was heard muttering.

"Indeed, one of you is enough, I've found," Eggman said. "At any rate. I found four Chaos Emeralds all in all. One was for my usage in the tower, and to track down the others. The other three of them were given to the prototype… but not immediately. First, I gave him regular doses of Chaos power, waited for the Emeralds to regenerate that lost power, and then repeated the process… many, many times. So despite that he only has three Chaos Emeralds, he is vastly more powerful than that, because of the energy I've instilled in his system prior. And now, he has activated that energy. Do you understand?"

"So in other words," Espio said, "you have no real idea how powerful this thing really is."

"Admittedly, no. And what's worse, Imposter appears to be having an adverse reaction to the energy. Maybe because I gave him too much – or perhaps I was unable to recreate the Chaos abilities that Shadow had and used as an outlet."

"Wait." Sonic interrupted again. "I get it. _This_ is why you didn't have Imposter go and get the Master Emerald from the cave instead of getting it yourself. This is what you didn't want to tell me! You _knew… _you knew something wasn't right."

Eggman sighed. "I had a feeling, yes. Getting near the Master Emerald before , when I needed him to guard it, was just fine. But since I have given him so much energy since then, it would probably have overloaded him if I sent him to get from the cave." He paused. "Perhaps… perhaps that is precisely what happened _now_. The Master Emerald is not far, am I correct? Imposter could very well have tapped into its energy…"

"But why focus so much on this guy to begin with?" Sonic asked. "I thought Meka Tower was your baby."

"It was. But I always have backup plans, as you very well know. And not only was Imposter backup; he was part of my ongoing studies with the Chaos Emeralds. He was invaluable in my creation of the scanners, as I based their criteria and process around Imposter's biological reactions to the Chaos Emeralds. But… even then it occurred to me that he could become unstable with too much power. I never should have risked that.

"It is fortunate that you managed to snag some Chaos Emeralds before I could get to them, though. Three, I believe Tails has? With the life-form's unstable condition and its near-constant exposure to Chaos energy as it was, it is already an enormous threat. All seven Chaos Emeralds would have made him impossible to stop… if he is not already."

Something clicked in Espio's mind. "_You_ had the Knuckles clone hire Vector and Charmy."

"Indeed I did."

"Why just them?"

"It is as you've likely already assumed. I was more concerned about you finding out the truth than they, as you likely would have done so faster and eliminated my clone. You are a ninja. Who would put it beyond you?"

"Well, I certainly will not deny my abilities," the chameleon said. "But Vector and Charmy were, in fact, the ones who informed me that 'Knuckles' was acting oddly. So you have them to thank, after all, Eggman. You have underestimated your adversaries once again."

"Yes, yes, everyone seems to enjoy pointing out that recent tendency of mine," Eggman said. Sonic was heard clearing his throat complacently. "The fact of the matter is, Imposter has been filled with what is likely the energy of countless Chaos Emeralds, because of the way I went about it. To be frank with all of you, I… I do not believe it can be defeated now."

"Your life's on the line here too, you know," Sonic pointed out.

The doctor nodded solemnly even though Sonic couldn't see it. "My life is on the line anyway…" he murmured quietly, mostly to himself, and then spoke for the rest to hear. "That doesn't change anything. I have told you all I can. Our only hope is to flee, and hide somehow while the energy of the Chaos Emeralds regenerates enough for use. Even with all seven of them at full power, I would say chances are very narrow, but…"

"That'd take weeks, at least," Sonic said through the communicator. "And meanwhile this thing would be running rampant, hurting people and destroying things, like all of your crazed creations do. You're supposed to be a genius; don't you have any better ideas?"

The doctor exchanged a glance with Espio, who shrugged and turned away apathetically, before responding. "You won't listen to me about hiding, will you?"

"Of course not," Sonic replied. "What, go put ourselves away so you can fly off with the prisoners again? I don't think so."

"Listen to me, Sonic. This clone… he has existed since before you were brought to Meka Tower. I collected my Chaos Emeralds shortly after the Space Colony ARK incident, and have been providing Imposter with power from them ever since. He seemed perfectly fine for a good long while, but… I should have known it would drive him berserk, all that energy lying dormant… I just thought I would see some sign first, which is why I kept doing it, because nothing seemed to be…"

"Cut to the chase, willya?"

"Imposter will have _drained_ those three Emeralds entirely by now, in addition to the energy he already had. Like I said, he went berserk. That is why he has changed in appearance; it is simply too much energy for his underdeveloped system to handle properly."

xxx

Sonic and Knuckles listened to their respective communicators intently, the former's ears even tilting forward now and then as he tried to absorb Doctor Eggman's words and make sense of them. They were standing in the crevice between two large and rather close sand dunes. Imposter's glow was visible from the distance, but he could not see them.

Not yet.

"Sonic…"

The hedgehog whirred around tensely. With his mind still in fight-mode, he was expecting to be attacked at any moment. Instead of an opponent, though, he came face-to-face with none other than Tails.

"What are you doing here?" he asked quietly.

"Well, I already landed the fortress," the fox said. "Sonic… you should go back to the Tornado. The Master Emerald is still in there."

"Don't you mean Knuckles? He's the guardian, here."

"No, I mean _you!_ You don't understand what I mean?"

"I do," Knuckles broke in, putting a hand on the fox's shoulder and glancing over at Sonic. "You drew on the Master Emerald's power earlier. Tails is saying maybe you could do it again."

"Come on!" Tails said eagerly, not even letting Sonic get a word in, namesakes wagging behind him. "There's still a chance! But we have to go _right_ _now_."

"I'll hold Imposter back," Knuckles assured them. "Go do your thing."

For a most peculiar moment, Sonic just stood there, unsure of what to do or say. It had been such a sudden notion. Could he even transform with the Master Emerald like he could the Chaos Emeralds? To _that _extent? He had never tried before. It had never been necessary.

Finally, the hedgehog held out a hand. Knuckles grasped it and squeezed. They shook once; firmly and proudly.

"We can do this," Sonic said to him, adapted to the notion, with a smile that resided in his eyes just as much as on his face.

"Yeah, yeah." Knuckles let go and then gave both Sonic and Tails a gentle shove in the opposite direction. "Grass is green. Get out of here, you two."

"C'mon, buddy!" Sonic said, and took off. Already prepared for the fast leave, Tails flew along behind him at top speed. Their blue and yellow forms contrasted against the deep indigo of the sky as they made a trail through the dunes.

It was a brief but pleasant journey. The night air had only cooled the atmosphere slightly, but the speed of the wind against them magnified its effect gloriously on their warm skin and sweaty fur. The past several days had been long and grueling, but hopefully – _hopefully _– it was almost over. There would be adequate time to appreciate things like wind and comfort later.

"…Just be careful, still," Tails said when they were almost back to the small plane. "You know it's not gonna be easy, and for once we really have no idea how much this guy is capable of."

Sonic nodded. The Master Emerald's glow lit the night, calling out to him as he neared it. It cast its green light on the Tornado, the sand, and the very air. Power seemed to roll off it in heavy, throbbing ripples.

"The Master Emerald's power is so immense," Sonic said quietly as he approached the Tornado and looked at the gem almost reverently. "It'll have leftover energy even after I use it."

"That's good to know," Tails said beside him. "So you can just come and get a refill if you need it, then, right?"

Sonic chuckled at his wording. "You could say that."

Tails stepped back, feeling like he should get out of the way for a reason he couldn't place. It wasn't like the Chaos energy was going to hurt him when Sonic used it. But still… he wanted to give his friend space. "Once you leave, I'll be around in the Tornado," he said. "Contact me if you need _anything_. Okay? I'm here for you, and I'm not letting you do this alone."

"Gotcha, bro."

Sonic's view of his friend was cut off by his own eyelids as they slid gently shut. He opened the gates of his mind, drawing on the Chaos energy for the only purpose he had ever drawn on it.

The positive energy answered his call of hope and fervor, flooding throughout him without reservation, invigorating and intense. He exposed himself to it, letting it saturate him and fill him and take him over… and for some reason he had the sense he had waited a long time for that feeling.

Gravity seemed to reverse itself; his quills suddenly felt light as a feather as the Emerald's power lifted them up on end. His fur gained an impossible, supernatural shine, like the color of the sun. His feet lifted off the ground as the energy supported his weight effortlessly. Residual energy formed a white-golden aura around him, radiating outwards like a ripple in a pond. His eyes turned a reflective shade of red… not the red of blood or hatred, but the red of fire.

Sonic always thought of something while transforming. It strengthened the overall effect – thinking, and letting himself feel the emotions those thoughts gave way to. Usually it was nothing elaborate. Whatever popped into mind first tended to suffice. A belief. A friend's face. A past experience. A sunrise.

But this time was a little different.

It was all that and more.

Everything that had happened in the past three months came together and coalesced in his mind, and for the first time in a long time he stepped back from his own mind long enough to see it from the outside for what it was. He saw it all. The big picture.

The experiences.

The people he had met, helped, befriended.

The friends he'd already had from the start, whom he had come to cherish even more.

The strength and willingness of humanity.

The most intense, deep, and raw feelings of both desperation and hope that he had ever known.

The acceptance of fear's challenge.

The experience of true liberation – the kind that could only reside in the mind.

It had been an adventure… but it was so much more than that.

Life. For the last three months, it had been life.

Sonic the hedgehog opened his eyes, feeling even more invincible on the inside than he was on the outside. His best friend was looking up at him in awe, for he had not witnessed the miracle of Chaos transformation from such a close perspective in a long time.

The fox smiled authentically, not looking uncertain or intimidated as Sonic met his gaze for the briefest of moments.

Then Sonic soared off like a shooting star, going to where he knew Imposter would be.

In the cluster of overwhelming thoughts swirling around in his head, there was one that held firm and steady at the forefront, one that was being reinforced and empowered by the energy within him every second…

_Bring it on._

Xxx

_"What you see is what you get." –Sonic, SA2_

Xxx

Whoa. I forgot that this chapter was _this _chapter for a second there. Obviously you can tell what's coming next! And hopefully the Imposter business makes sense now. Let me know what you thought if you want! Will definitely update again before the holiday.


	41. Chapter 40: Don't Turn Away

DanceDream: Heh, thanks a lot! I was hoping so, that transformation scene deserved to be cool since it took so long to get to this point. xD As for Kai and the chao, it had been a while and it was about time they found out that they were okay. That's one thing I kinda miss about those scenes in Meka Tower; Kai! I realize he hasn't been around as much since then. And lol, Eggman was successful all right, a little OVER-successful all things considering, and even he wasn't ready for it. o_o Aww, I'm so glad that you've come to like this story so much. Not that I could blame ya for hesitating at first, all things considering – and it was already long at the time. xD Have fun writing yourself, and have a great Christmas. :)

x

Frick what do I say

GO GO GO

xxx

CHAPTER 40: DON'T TURN AWAY

Sonic realized as he came up on the Egg Carrier 2 that he felt immensely more comfortable than he had before transformation. In the midst of his thoughts, he hadn't realized that the Master Emerald's power had healed his injuries and soreness completely.

He had never felt better in his life.

"Now let's see if I can keep it that way for a change…"

"Hey! Sonic!" a voice called. He recognized it as Knuckles's. After a moment he spotted the red echidna waving with both arms atop the fortress. He halted his own momentum in midair and then dropped down to land before him on the bridge.

"Everything all right?"

"I'm not sure. Imposter started heading towards here, so I followed him. But once he got here he didn't pay the fortress or the people any mind. He just soared over it and kept going. I don't know what he's doing. I thought for sure he would attack here…!"

"Gotcha." Sonic said, for whatever reason not surprised by this as he gazed off in calm knowing. Knuckles looked at him with transparent confusion, but Sonic didn't elaborate, instead continuing with what seemed more important at the moment. "Listen, it looks like a lot of the H-series androids were defeated or disabled in all this. So the prisoners should be okay for now. I need you guys. Tails'll be here in the Tornado real soon. Find the others, cram yourselves on the plane, and have Tails go in the same direction. I'll see you over there."

"Okay. Espio and I can balance on the wings, and… I guess Lucas, Amber and Amy can cram themselves in the seats. It'll work. But what do you have in mind?"

"For starters, you need to do that thing you do with the Master Emerald to downsize it, so you can take it with you wherever we go. I might need more of it. Tails, of course, has to pilot the plane. As for everyone else…" Sonic hesitated. "I still don't trust Eggman. The further away we are from this fortress, the better. For that matter, could you herd some people off that thing while you wait for Tails?"

The echidna sighed. "I guess. Don't make a habit of bossing me around, though."

"Knew I could count on you, Knux," Sonic said, and took off again.

The now-golden blur drifted through the warm night air for what seemed like a long time, going fast enough to enjoy it but slow enough to search for Imposter. Every now and then he thought he caught sight of that telltale ominous glow, but it was only ever in his peripheral vision, and when he tried to focus in on it directly, it disappeared.

Eerie.

But it had to be his environment playing tricks on him. The light from the stars intermixing with the gusts of sand in the air… Or perhaps he really _had _seen Imposter, but the fog made it impossible to keep him in his vision for long.

Every moment he felt as though he was going to be attacked from behind, or slammed into the ground. He would be okay, he knew; the Master Emerald's energy would protect him from a great deal of physical harm. But nothing could guard against the heart-pounding adrenaline rush caused by anticipation and nerves.

He supposed that was okay with him, as long as Imposter didn't keep him in wait to the point of boredom.

And as long as… well.

He hadn't said so to Knuckles, but there was a much more intricate reason he wanted his friends to follow closely behind him. He had a vague notion what Imposter was up to. And if he was right… if he was right, he didn't want to fight the fake guardian without someone knowing where he was. Just in case.

Maybe he could stop the convoluted life-form before it got that far… maybe…

A deep-rooted anxiety squeezed his stomach, one that had lain dormant for quite a while now, but had never gone away.

Never. It had always been there.

_But it was just another part of the adventure…_

Sonic took a deep breath.

And then the inevitable happened. He _thought _he had been fully prepared for it.

Imposter tore out of the ground beneath him and pummeled him into the sky, and suddenly the breath he had taken was knocked out of him.

Sonic recovered quickly, righting himself in the air and pushing away from the echidna-thing. It chased after him persistently, as if in a blind rage, throwing punches and kicks all the time. He could feel his own positive energy clashing with Imposter. It was a metastatic mess of negative energy, surrounding the tumor that was Imposter's body. He could literally _feel _it. The fight was commencing within him just as much as it was about him.

It unnerved him how much he felt Imposter's brutal strikes. They hadn't hurt… but Chaos, they were close. Even with the amount of power he had taken into his system – an almost overwhelming amount, in retrospect, despite how many times he had experienced transformation before – Imposter could still very easily match him.

Too easily.

And for all he knew, Imposter had only been throwing test punches, playing with his prey before killing it…

He latched onto a dreadlock and went back towards the Egg Carrier 2 as much as he could – towards where his friends would be coming from. Imposter caught on quickly and swatted him away like a fly. Having expected it, Sonic managed to turn his momentum around before hitting the ground, doing a u-turn mid-flight and throwing himself into the glowing deformity that served as Imposter's chest.

Imposter kept fighting as though he hadn't even felt it, shoving Sonic in the opposite direction again…

"No!" the hedgehog snarled viciously. "We're not doing this your way!"

Right as he spoke, he heard someone address him over the communicator. He ducked one of Imposter's kicks, grasped the enormous leg, and pulled up on it. Triumph flickered in his mind for a brief moment, however small it was, as the echidna hit the ground. He got back up immediately, sand sliding off his body, looking furious that he had been bested.

In the meantime, Sonic spoke into his communicator: "Tails, was that you? Be quick!"

"Sonic! Yeah! We're on our way right now. Whatever you do, keep your communicator on; I'm tracing the signal to get to where you are before I land. I've got everyone. Knux told me what you told him."

"Great to hear. _Rghh…!_"

Imposter had recovered and struck him hard across the mouth with a huge, spiked fist. Dots of light flashed in his vision. He felt himself hit the sand and immediately made to get back up, but it was as though his movements were no longer coordinated with his mind. He couldn't get his body to do what he wanted; he was too dizzy…

"Sonic, you cool?" Tails asked, hearing the commotion.

The hedgehog was suddenly off the ground again, but not of his own accord. Imposter had him by the leg and was holding him upside down, preparing to strike once more.

Sonic concentrated Chaos energy to his torso, where the blow was headed. Then, throwing his arms forward, he caught it against his body. In the brief instant it took for Imposter to register the movement, the hedgehog twisted himself out of his grasp and shot away to safety.

"I'm cool," he replied, clearing his throat. "…For fifteen seconds or so, if I'm lucky. Anything else?"

"Yes," Knuckles's voice interrupted. "Care to tell us why you're _really _bothered by this fight?"

Sonic looked off in the distance and said, "Tell them yourself. It sounds like you've already figured it out. Uh-oh, I've gotta go! Imposter just took off again…"

"I know," Knuckles said. "Look up. We're flying right over you."

Sonic did. The Tornado shot by right overhead. Grinning, he took to the air to follow alongside it. "Hey, guys."

"What's wrong, Sonic?" Amy asked from the passenger seat, looking out at him, concern shining in her teal eyes.

"Ahh, nothin' I can't take care of, Amy!"

Amy turned to Knuckles on the wing without missing a beat. "What's wrong, Knuckles?"

"Imposter knows too much," the guardian explained, "…because of what _I _know. That's how Eggman programmed him."

"And what is it that you know?" Amy pressed urgently. In response, Knuckles turned smoothly on the wing and met Sonic's eyes as he flew along beside them.

Sonic's heart pounded furiously as he looked into those violet orbs. The echidna knew, all right.

"I know… that I am a strong swimmer and could easily win a fight in that kind of environment," Knuckles said slowly. "I know Sonic _isn't _strong in the water. And as Sonic mentioned before… the ocean is near."

"Hedgehog's outta the bag!" Sonic winked at them. "Come on, then – let's get him!"

Tails threw the Tornado into high gear, making it accelerate fast enough to compete with Sonic. Knuckles and Espio bent down and gripped the edge of their respective wings as the wind pulled against them.

"What are you doing?" Knuckles barked.

"Going faster," the fox replied obviously, the features of determination coming over his face. "We're going to stop that monster before it gets to the water."

Up ahead, Sonic was quickly gaining on Imposter. Chaos-powered or not, he was faster than anyone… though that fact was of little comfort to him now. They were so close to the water. His speed, he realized, wasn't going to be enough.

Oh, he would catch up to Imposter, all right. In a matter of mere moments, in fact. But by then, they would be out over the ocean.

He could see the Tornado out of the corner of his eye, trying to keep up. It launched missiles, bullets, nets – anything it could to stop or slow Imposter. None of it made contact; not even one. And though Sonic appreciated his friends' efforts, he knew that such weapons wouldn't hold a candle to Imposter's energized form.

_Yeah, well… Imposter can't hold a candle to ME!_

"Ground the plane," Sonic commanded over his communicator.

"What?"

"Be backup for now – this isn't going to work like I thought it was. And I don't want to have to worry about you guys too. Please?"

"But Sonic," Tails began.

"You're not going to be able to do anything right now. He's way too fast for anyone but me… and I'm going after him."

The sandy fog dissipated. The ocean came into clear view all at once…

…Just in time for Sonic to see Imposter dive under the surface.

"Wait for him to come back!" Amy said over the communicator. "It's not like he's going to flee, is it?"

Sonic conceded for a moment, slowing down and flying alongside the Tornado as it continued to descend. "I don't happen to like waiting," he said with a smile, then flickered his gaze to Tails. "Besides, I can handle going into water a little better now. Inn' that right, buddy?"

Tails threw his hands over his mouth in realization, bright eyes going wide, and forgot to pilot the plane for a moment. Before he could say anything, Sonic winked and shot off again.

The waves crashed into each other below him, as if competing. Their violent movements distorted the reflection of the calm moon and stars, making them nearly unrecognizable. It was a huge blue-gray abyss, infinite and paralyzing… He looked hard into it, seeking Imposter's glow… hoping he would find it… hoping he wouldn't find it.

He could handle the water better than before. That much hadn't been a lie. But it still scared him.

Further out. Further. With the energy, he knew he could float, and he would feel it if his energy started to diminish. He would be okay. Further.

_There you are._

Not far in the distance, the water had taken on a violet hue. If he hadn't been looking for it, he would never have spotted it. But now that he had, it was unmistakable. He couldn't convince himself otherwise… and he could no longer justify hovering above the surface.

Imposter would hold his breath. The Chaos energy would strengthen that ability.

If Sonic waited, he knew the mutilated echidna would come up and attack him first.

If he backed away towards the shore, he would waste precious time and precious Chaos energy. Neither would last forever. And Imposter probably wouldn't humor him by following him toward land, either. Imposter would know enough to know that if Sonic didn't come after him, Sonic would be the one wasting precious energy.

He would end up under the surface either way.

It was just a matter of whose terms it was on, like so many other things. It was a free choice.

_Just do it, Sonic. They're counting on ya._

He glanced back at the shore. They were all there now, watching him. Knuckles was tapping one foot.

Carefully, slowly, he lowered himself, still going forward towards the violet hue that signified Imposter's presence. His fingertips skimmed the water…

"Just _do it!_" Knuckles hollered from the shore. "Unless you want me to swim after him instead!"

Sonic shot a glare in that general direction, then quickly locked his gaze on the water below again.

_I'm sick of water. Time to make it sick of me too._

"You think I won't chase him in there?" he murmured under his breath, Chaos energy carrying his voice back to the shore for his friends to hear, and then he accelerated and threw his arms out as the shimmering liquid invited him in. "It won't stop me!"

Then he dove under with so much force and finality that the resulting splash took over the shores and the sky in all its chaotic, wet majesty.

xxx

Lucas turned to Knuckles, wiping his dripping brown-black hair out of his eyes, and said, "That convinced him."

"Stubborn as hell, thinks he can handle anything, like I said." The echidna squeezed a dreadlock dry, somehow looking irritated and smug at the same time. "I rest my case."

"About time," Espio muttered beside him.

"You know, I believe in him," Amy said, peering out at the ocean, "but… do you really think he's going to be okay out there?"

Knuckles rolled his eyes, wondering if the girl realized how contradictory her own words were. "He'll be fiiiiine," he droned, not looking at her.

"Yeah," Tails chimed in happily, "and honestly, I think he'll wind up having some fun while he's at it, too! I mean, he's Super Sonic! He's gotta know the water can't really hurt him. Not that it'd stop him if it could," he added quickly.

"You guys are right," Amy said, convinced. "He can do it. He… he has to."

"He does," Knuckles reaffirmed somewhat grimly. "Imposter's only luring him out to sea so he can try to finish him off. Sonic's a mere distraction to him. Imposter is insane with the negative Chaos energy. If he's not stopped, or at least neutralized… Well. We've been down this road before."

Tails nodded. "With Chaos."

And Chaos had destroyed lives. Towns. Civilizations.

xxx

Sonic had his nose pinched tightly between his finger and thumb.

He would be able to hold his breath for a few minutes with the help of the Chaos energy, he knew… but not much longer than that. He could tell instinctually… and physically. The pressure of the air pushing against the insides of his lungs, aching dully for release. The natural inclination to draw breath. The water so close to his mouth as it was to the rest of his body…

Slowly, tensely, he opened his eyes. He had closed them during the transition between air and water. It had just felt like the right thing to do. He didn't know if everyone else did that too, or if it was just him.

_Whoa._

Sonic let his eyes open all the way to take in what he was seeing. He had never imagined anything like it.

The golden light radiating off his body saturated the surrounding water. It reflected all around him, spreading as he went. Portions of the liquid shone like facets of a diamond as his vibrant energy stained it in ways not possible in the regular atmosphere. The water was playing with the trajectory of the light, bending it in different directions, presenting the illusion of being much brighter than it actually was. It was distorted, deceiving… and somehow, intriguing. He could not recall seeing anything of the sort in his life.

_Chaos… it's beautiful._

The golden light about him began to change hue, gaining a noticeably purple tint. At first it was subtle, insignificant.

Then Imposter plowed into him, driving him further below the surface, a mad expression on his face.

It was counterintuitive not to scream, or grunt, or gasp. Sonic kept his teeth locked together determinedly, as if gritting them would make him less likely to accidentally open his mouth. Both hands flew for Imposter's throat automatically, leaving his nose exposed. Cold wetness rushed into it greedily. The reflective facets were gone in the twisting and swirling of the attack.

Despite the fight, Sonic's focus turned abruptly inward.

For a moment he was gripped by familiar, primal panic as something within him bent almost to the point of breaking. He exhaled, forcing the water back out. The deep canals of his nose stung.

He managed to pull away from Imposter. He didn't know how. It was simply because he had to. Immediately he rocketed up towards the surface with unconditional need. It came down to meet him mercifully quickly. For a second there, he had forgotten his body's abilities were being enhanced by the Chaos energy. He couldn't swim, but he didn't need to. The energy was enough to resist gravity and water alike.

His friends cheered as he shot out of the water, making another enormous splash arise. Its white mist seemed to surround him mystically for a moment, sparkling as it reflected his Chaotic light, before falling back to where it belonged.

Sonic was shaking, even in the midst of the warmth of his aura. Cold fear and some kind of sadness was settling uncomfortably within him. He was trying to ignore the sudden sense that this just wasn't going to work.

He felt ridiculous, embarrassed. What was he doing out here? Of all circumstances, of all people… what was _he _doing out here?

_Can I even… do this?_

Somewhere in the underwater assault, they had ended up close to the shore again. He caught a glimpse of not only his group of friends, but several dozen former prisoners trickling toward the edge, watching the battle. Since Imposter had not yet caught up, Sonic went over to where everyone was standing. Their presence lifted his spirits a little. The last of the water on his energized body sizzled away as he arrived.

"Hey guys," he said, gesturing to the evaporation with a laugh, "I'm hot!"

Knuckles shook his head, pressing a palm to his face. "Keep dreaming, hedgehog." A few paces behind him, Amy was watching Sonic wistfully, nodding and smiling.

"How are you, Sonic?" Amber asked quietly, knowingly.

"I'll manage. Ready to, uh, blow this outta the water." Standing a short distance away in the background of their exchange, Lucas proceeded to facepalm as well. Sonic expected no less. "How 'bout yourself?"

"Uh, good," she replied, looking like she hadn't expected to be asked in return. "But I'm not the one trying to keep an insane life-form from destroying the world… while under water."

"Yeah… speaking of that," Sonic said, and went back out over the ocean.

Imposter caught sight of him almost immediately, and dove down into the water once more – not before Sonic shot forward at him and latched onto his foot. The mutant immediately kicked at him with the other, trying to dig at his hands. Crush them. Sonic's form served as fortification against the attempt.

Imposter shot forward, in and out of the water repeatedly at speeds that even threw Sonic for a bit of a loop, trying to shake the hedgehog off. Sonic clung fast, grunting with the effort.

Speed. He was good with speed. Still not letting go, he made himself focus his vision on what was happening, and started to keep up with it and coordinate when he inhaled and exhaled. Air, water. Up, down. Breathe in, breathe out.

Then, at the apex of one of the motions, he pulled back on Imposter's huge foot as hard as he could, breaking their momentum. Imposter whirred around in midair without missing a beat and hit him hard in the face, one of his spiked gloves tearing across his ear.

And suddenly, despite his Chaos energy, Sonic was vulnerable. Exposed.

Pain tended to hammer that effect home.

Someone screamed his name, asking if he was all right. In the cold grasp of panic and disorientation, Sonic couldn't tell who, but tried to gesture acknowledgment anyway, sticking his arm out for a quick thumbs-up.

Imposter seized the opportunity – literally – taking his arm in both hands. Then, before Sonic regained his bearing enough to do anything about it, he yanked it down over his knee.

Sonic cried out as it made contact. But the horrific agony he briefly expected never happened. The Chaos energy washed over him, strong and protective, and sapped the possibility of a broken arm.

There was a brief pause in the action as Imposter glowered at him, as if it was his fault he had not been severely injured.

"Um," Sonic chuckled nervously, "I'm just as surprised as you are, pal."

Imposter attacked again. He just barely avoided another punch to the stomach and a few other scattered attacks that were too fast to follow with the eyes. He could feel his energy getting a bit lower as it absorbed the blows and pain for him.

It matched his mental state just as well. Once more, he glanced over at where his friends were, tried to remember why he was fighting this battle. He already felt tired. He didn't quite want to fight. Not here.

Not like _this_.

He had an excuse not to for a few precious moments. He would have to go back to shore again, get close enough to the Master Emerald to borrow a little more of its power…

Shaking his head, Sonic tried to focus his vision. It was just as whacked out as the sea below him, seeming to rock quickly back and forth like chaotic waves. He closed his eyes and tried to reach the Master Emerald in his mind. He could sense it was further away than he would have liked it to be, but was able to take in some of its power anyway. It let him feel a little more rejuvenated again and he made a mental note that Chaos energy could not protect him from his mind's reaction to this fight. He could still get dizzy and shaken up and disoriented, even if his body was very protected.

Knowing he still needed more, he sped up to put some distance in between himself and his chaser, and to get closer to the Master Emerald. It was just then that Knuckles shouted to him through the communicator.

"Sonic!" Something was off about the guardian's tone, and Sonic had a sinking feeling what it was in the seconds before he elaborated. "Listen to me. I need to take the Master Emerald elsewhere."

"R-right now?" Sonic stammered, pressing a hand to his ear. It had healed quickly, but still hurt. "I was just coming to…"

"No. Listen. Imposter is aware of its presence just like I would be, and is drawing upon its energy too. We _cannot _let him become any stronger, Sonic!"

"Can't you stop him from doing that?"

Knuckles gave an impatient, unnerved sigh. "Not here. We're nowhere near a shrine. This is why the Master Emerald is supposed to be at a shrine when it is used. It's meant to help channel its energy properly…"

"Well why didn't you say so?" He hadn't realized Imposter had started to draw on the gem as well, in addition to what he already had. _So that's why none of my attacks have hurt him at all…_ "Get out of here, then!"

"You won't be able to draw on its power anymore."

"Yeah, I get that. I'll… uh, I'll be okay. Do what you gotta do."

Things were spiraling downward fast. It was palpable in the atmosphere. And he had already felt below baseline.

Imposter was even more powerful, and he himself hadn't gotten the chance to absorb very much more of the Master Emerald's energy. He could not find a way to stop the monstrosity or even slow him; strikes did nothing. They were little more than a tap on Imposter's shoulder.

He couldn't let it get to him. Not here. Not now. They were so close to winning.

So close.

_It's always worth it to fight back…_

Sonic turned to face Imposter fiercely. Fog was setting in over the ocean as if to accent the dark battle.

The blur blur was one to like a good fight. He was adventurous, daring. Right now he couldn't find that aspect of himself at all and he felt lost.

But he didn't have to like it. He just needed to be resolute. Unwavering.

"It's too late," the echidna drawled with that insane grin. Whatever semblance he'd had to Knuckles before was completely eradicated now in the face of the negative Chaos energy. He _was _negative Chaos energy. "_You're _too late. I am… more powerful than your mind can even comprehend…"

"It's not very often I'm too late, fella," Sonic said. "Not _nearly _as often as I hear folks like you try to tell me they're invincible. Skip it and fight me."

"Brave soul, are you? It'll be all the more fun to end someone as arrogant as you."

"Hey. I said _skip _it. Flattery's not in your character anyway."

"As you wish."

The grin turned into a death glare, and Imposter launched himself forward. Sonic prepared himself for the assault, ready to repeat the fighting dance he had done so many times… but at the last second, the life-form veered off and passed him.

Naturally he whirred around to follow. But by the time he got that far, Imposter had already turned on a dime and come back at him, a cluster of speed and power. With no time to react, he was struck full on in the head without the slightest preparation.

The sheer force of the Chaos energy in Imposter's hit, combined with his own lightness, sent him flying back toward the shore. He landed on his back in the sand, cutting a trail through it as he skidded and half-buried himself.

Not far away, the others gasped. Tails was already running. "Sonic!"

The golden hedgehog flopped forward, eyes closed, sand pouring off him like a waterfall. His aura dimmed and he slumped down more heavily, the ground now supporting his weight more than the Chaos energy was.

Spots of nonexistent light appeared against the black behind his eyes. He felt sand getting in his gloves as he pushed against the ground, trying to get up before Imposter got to him again. His head spun.

"Sonic," Tails called again, panic in his voice. "Say something! What can we do?"

_Nothing_, the hedgehog wanted to say, but couldn't find his tongue in his mouth. Sand came out when he opened it. He spat it out, or at least tried to. He was too disoriented to do anything.

The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was Tails. The fox's running form seemed to be spread all over the expanse of shore. His vision was trying to make everything come together and form something solid, but he couldn't. He closed his eyes again, feeling dizzy and nauseous.

If he hadn't had Chaos energy, the blow would have killed him.

"He's losing it," came another voice, maybe Espio's. "He's losing his Super form!"

_Losing… my Super form? But how can that be?_

Something inside him already had at least part of the answer to that question. He hadn't wanted this fight. His wishes no longer matched the fervency with which he had absorbed the Master Emerald's energy.

Where had that fire gone? After everything – he was going to lose himself now?

There was a part of his mind that was irretrievably scared. Exhausted. _Done_. The energy he had absorbed hadn't withstood Imposter's attack – because it was reflecting what he couldn't withstand.

But that immense amount of energy – gone in seconds? There had to be more to it than that. It couldn't be gone.

Mind seeking, he made some kind of effort to locate the Master Emerald. He couldn't find it, couldn't reach any hint of it. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew there was a reason why he couldn't locate it, but he couldn't grasp that either. He could barely keep hold of his consciousness. Things were phasing in and out, and all he wanted to do was lay there.

He tried to reach within himself, and find the energy that had to still be there. The energy he had already absorbed. He couldn't find that either.

"Stay back, stay back!" came Espio's voice again. "Tails, Amy – go back to where we were or you'll get hurt."

"And what do you think you're going to do?"

Ignited ever so slightly with the sense of danger, Sonic opened his eyes again and saw all three of them coming towards him, Tails and Amy having ignored Espio's command.

In the blurry background, he saw the deformed, crimson and violet being that was Imposter heading right toward them. More precisely, toward _him._

He couldn't get up. If Imposter got to him again it was all over for sure.

"Guys… I'm sorry…" Sonic managed, ashamed, not even sure if he was talking or if he was only trying to. His focus had been shot, and he barely had the mental capacity to keep awake. His head was pounding with the effect of Imposter's strike, his energy no longer concentrated enough or strong enough to protect him from the pain. "You have to…"

"No. We're not leaving you," Tails said immediately, finally reaching his side. But this time, that wasn't what Sonic had been trying to say. He shook his head furiously, back and forth.

"N-no…" Even the single word took all his breath, and he had to heave to get the rest out. "He's coming…" Sonic couldn't make his body work right. Upon losing control of his energy, he wasn't simply returning to baseline – he was crashing. If _someone_ couldn't do something, Imposter would attack him again and he would never get up from the sand. "Guys… _help…_"

Xxx

"_Focus your spirit." –Espio, Sonic Generations_

Xxx

You guys are gonna kill me oh god _look at all the reasons everywhere _

It's Survivor's Resolve, folks. :D On a somewhat related note, I was skimming some of the older chapters earlier (like, _really _old, about the first quarter or third of the story), and I was half expecting to be reading something totally different than what this story's become – but it all weaves together and leads up to this finale in a way that just makes sense, with the characters and with the general themes of the story. I hope, that sometime after this is done being posted, a few people might decide to read it again the way you would normally read a story – without weeks or months between chapters, close enough to let the whole thing be experienced freshly. I think it makes the ending, and the story as a whole, deliver a greater impact that way.

…This isn't to say I wasn't cringing here and there, as I noticed a handful of discrepancies (ugh, I hope nobody saw that, _how did I not see that_) in the earlier chapters that I gotta go fix. O_o

Hope you enjoyed; the battle continues next chapter! I'm really anticipating posting it, so make of that what you will.~ :P Merry Christmas, all! Have a safe and enjoyable holiday; be good to yourself and your loved ones. I'll see ya shortly after that – expect one more update before the new year!


	42. Chapter 41: Liberation

DanceDream: Ahaha, I laughed. xD Merry Christmas indeed. Poor guy. Oops? XD So glad you like the battle scene so far – it's not over yet and I'm pretty proud of how this chapter turned out too. Super Sonic does tend to come off as overpowered sometimes, I agree. But making things too easy is boring to me, so I guess I tend to stay out of that category even if only outta personal preference. ;) Interesting that you say this is the first time you've doubted he'll make it out alive. I'll save my response on that. Guess you'll have to wait and see. (What a typical thing for me to say. xD) And haha, of course they're going to the ocean. Would ya believe me if I said that wasn't in the first draft of this battle? It wasn't gonna have anything to do with the ocean at first. But then something in me realized, "wait, this isn't how it happened, it _actually _happened over the ocean." xD I think ultimately that's at least somewhat for the better though. This chapter here will have some meaningful little moments that I think will back that up. (And plenty that won't. xD) You know, I never meant for all the chapters to be that long. It just happened that way, somehow! Anyway, thanks a lot DanceDream! Have a good one.

Dizzy: Thanks, I'm glad you're enjoying it! The way I see it, I think that part of the reason my Sonic sometimes comes off as tame (and likewise, his openness in talking with Eggman), is because the events of this story itself have kind of shaped that. He's slowed down a bit, mentally even if not physically, and tends to be somewhat more aware and honest about himself – toward Eggman as you pointed out, but also toward his friends in several chapters. I totally get where you're coming from though – I like my Sonic to have some snark and attitude about him too. I think he has those moments a fair bit in this story, especially in Meka Tower in his encounters with Eggman and the androids, and talking to Lucas too. Lately though, I s'ppose he has calmed down a bit, so I'll definitely keep that in mind. ;) Thanks for the feedback, and hope you like the new chapter!

x

Wow. Sorry for the wait, folks, 'specially at such a crucial moment! Take a quick glance back and the end few paragraphs of the last chapter if you need to refresh your memory on what was going on.

This will all but wrap up the battle that started a couple chapters ago. Only a little left beyond that. Enjoy, guys.

CHAPTER 41: LIBERATION

Sonic raised a hand and pointed at Imposter, unable to do much else.

Finally following the hedgehog's weak gaze, the others looked over their shoulder and saw Imposter nearing. Tails, still crouched down, put a hand on Sonic's shoulder. "Stay with it, Sonic," he said, then got up and looked at Amy and Espio with determination. "We have to do something. Sonic's counting on us!"

"Power up the plane with our three Chaos Emeralds, Tails!" Amy said.

"I'll stay on the ground," Espio said. "He won't see me. I won't be able to do much other than use my throwing knives, but it might be enough to defend Sonic. That in combination with the Tornado's arsenal should be able to hold him back for a short time."

"Amber!" Tails called. She and Lucas had caught up. "Do you think you can heal again?"

"I don't think that matters, you two," Espio said to Tails and Amber. "He's hardly _hurt _to be healed. The energy protected him from injury. But not from the effect of being struck in the head. He's not controlling his energy and it's draining him. There's nothing anyone can do but protect him." The detective pointed in the other direction. "Go to the Tornado! Hurry!"

Tails and Amy turned and ran to the plane as fast as they could.

"Sonic!" Lucas shouted without subtlety, wanting to startle the blue blur back to wakefulness. He bent down and shook Sonic by his shoulders. "Come on, you. It's not over yet!"

"Get back, Lucas," Espio said, grabbing the man by the arm and pulling him away. "He doesn't need yelling and shaking, he needs breathing room. Let him be."

Not waiting to see if Lucas listened, Espio camouflaged. There was no time to make it perfect. Sand was blowing around in swirls and he was still slightly visible. But Chaos-willing, it would be enough.

It _had _to be. If it wasn't – if Imposter saw the detective and attacked – it would only take one hit. Even _Sonic _was struggling, and he had the energy of the Master Emerald.

He glanced over his shoulder to give the hedgehog one last look. Lucas was standing over him, watching too. Sonic's aura was almost completely diminished. The blue of his fur was visible again. His eyes, half-lidded, had only a spark of red left.

_Come on, Sonic._

Xxx

The heaviness of gravity pulled on his quills. As normalcy began to envelop him again, his debilitated mind slowly realized he could not stay awake without the Master Emerald's energy. It was, for all intents and purposes, his life support. Yet he was caught in a vicious cycle, because in order to keep hold of the energy, he needed to be awake, supporting himself. Its remaining slight influence was holding him on the cusp between consciousness and unconsciousness. Without it he would have passed out or been killed on impact. With some hazy sense of alarm, he realized that could still happen – if that forceful strike to his head was affecting him this much _now_, who was to say he wouldn't be damaged once the energy was gone?

He'd had no idea – no idea at all that this could happen. That he could even be disabled to such a state. He had lost his form while using the seven Chaos Emeralds before – when he had encountered Knuckles for the very first time – but this energy wasn't the seven Chaos Emeralds. It was the _Master _Emerald. The most potent power in the world.

Maybe that was all the more reason. Such power might be too immense to be easily sustainable.

It was jarring. He no longer felt the sense of invincibility he often felt while enveloped by Chaos power. Not even anywhere close. This time, he had to contribute his own energy. His own very life force. Willpower.

It was the very lack thereof that had contributed to what was happening to him now. He had been reluctant to fight. Chaos turned thoughts into power. But for those few mistaken, horrid fleeting moments – his thought hadn't been to keep fighting. His Chaos energy reacted in kind. And it was then, of course, that Imposter had struck hardest.

Suddenly he was desperate to right what he had wronged. He needed another chance. One more chance. That was all that mattered now. Even if it destroyed him.

Sonic found the ground below his hands and tried to get up. His mind and body felt in limbo. He felt like he was detached from himself. The Chaos energy, fleeting as it was, was still _all _that was keeping him able. He felt like he was running on an artificial power source. A handicap.

His mind knew – knew he was supposed to be long unconscious. It was all he could do to cling onto the only thing buffering it.

Green eyes flitted open, took in the world about him. Imposter out over the water. The Tornado's projectiles holding it at bay. Wisps of sand whipping around everywhere. Lucas standing over him like a protective pillar. He realized even Lucas didn't know what to do. Normally the man would say something. But he was just standing there grimly… fearfully.

He dragged himself forward, trying once more to get up. His body protested. His system might as well have been out cold. He was using energy it didn't have. Only the remaining Chaos power dwelling within him had energy. It was slowly dissipating with his inability to sustain it, and the rest was reigning within him as he managed to keep it, but not to _regulate _it…

He realized that wasn't the only thing going on here. Imposter had used Chaos energy himself in that strike. Not only was Sonic trying to shake off the blow; he was trying to shake off the intensity of the negative power behind that blow. And it was lingering. It had staying power that he couldn't find anymore.

Everything was wrong. Everything was all wrong. His entire inner balance was off, his mind a mess of confusion and swirling energy. It was a sensation beyond the spectrum of sensation; something on a whole different plane that didn't make any sense. The sensation of pure energy within him, left uncontrolled by its user. It was confusing. Overwhelming. Like an impossibly strong adrenaline rush – leaving his hands shaking and his stomach tight – even though he could do nothing with that normally empowering feeling.

He was scared of what it meant. Using Chaos energy was normally natural for him. But now nothing felt natural.

He couldn't channel it. Couldn't release it.

All he knew was that Imposter had to be immensely powerful to have thrown off every aspect of his being like that. Body, mind, Chaos… everything. With a single strike.

That, or he himself had been immensely weak.

He thought he saw the Tornado get hit by Imposter, then realized that only one incarnation of it had. There were about four of them in his vision, and one of them had appeared to collide with one of the Imposters. But they both flew through each other seamlessly, so he knew it was only his perception.

Ears and quills hung heavily against his head, their tips still alight with that supernatural energy. A reflection of the very small amount of energy he was putting forth. It was still within him. But he could no longer make it work. Pretty soon, it would desert him completely. And Knuckles had taken the Master Emerald away. It was too far for him to have a chance of recovering what he would lose.

He couldn't lose it. He _couldn't _lose it! This was all there was left! If he couldn't keep fighting now, none of this chaos would end. All their efforts would be in vain. Everyone he had worked _so _hard to free would be in imminent danger, not from Eggman, but from this being that was vastly more powerful than Eggman could ever be.

In vain… everything.

Sweat dripped onto the sand below him. He was looking down at it, on his hands and knees, face inches from the ground. Up this close, things looked slightly clearer, so he tried to focus on it. But the sight of anything seemed to make his head pound even harder than it already was. His condition combined with literal chaos inside him was making him feel like he was going to explode. His quills hung lower.

Still gasping in breaths, Sonic closed his eyes.

Xxx

Lucas tensely watched the Tornado veer out of the way as Imposter shot himself at it, making a projectile out of his own mutilated body.

It was a narrow avoidance. He wanted to call out to Tails to be careful, to say that Imposter would destroy that plane if he got his hands on it… but he knew the fox was just as aware of that as he was. Tails could only do his best, and he was doing it. No amount of shouting or encouraging would make things any better.

He saw Espio's undisguised footprints a little ways off and followed them with his eyes to where they stopped. The chameleon was chucking out shurikens at the overpowered lifeform whenever he came to close, at which point he would look for Espio, find nothing, and redirect his attention at the Tornado. So far, their trading attacks were keeping him from getting too close to Sonic… though occasionally he tried.

It was a plan that would only work temporarily, for the moment either of them were struck, they would be down for the count. Dodging was their only hope – but they had to balance it with enough attacks to keep Imposter occupied.

Lucas turned around and checked on Sonic again.

His heart skipped a beat and his throat locked in around a gasp. His hedgehog friend no longer showed any trace of his advanced form. His fur was blue, matted and sweaty. His eyes were closed and he was supported only by the sand.

"No… _no!_"

Hardly believing it, the man touched one of Sonic's quills as though he needed to make sure his eyes weren't betraying him. Surely Sonic hadn't just lost the Master Emerald's energy. Surely it wasn't over…

Sonic's body was hot to the touch. It was alarming; severe. There was something off. No one's body should be that warm, even someone with a fever. It was unnatural.

He reached out with the other hand and grasped Sonic's shaking form under the arms. Sonic gave no indicator whether or not he was troubled by this. Regardless, Lucas had to try and get him back on his feet. He had helped do it before. Maybe he could help do it again.

Not just for the sake of everyone who was depending on this. But for Sonic's own sake as well. They had come so far. They had overcome so much. Lucas could not bear to let Sonic fail. "Get up for me," he whispered, gently lifting. "I know you can. I know you're so much more than what I'm seeing now."

The hedgehog didn't respond. He was trembling like he was cold, even though his skin was so hot.

"Please…" Lucas said, but he felt suddenly empty saying it. Sonic's bodyweight let the hedgehog slide from the man's numb hold and slump back to the sand. Lucas didn't try to help him up again. He bent down on one knee and put himself at eye level with Sonic, even though the latter's eyes were closed tight. "Okay," he said simply, voice subdued. "It's okay. It's enough.

"Everyone expects… so much. You haven't failed, Sonic. You must know that." He swallowed. "We'll try our hand at the rest." He peered at the hedgehog. The only sign he was still conscious at all was that he was ever so slightly holding himself up, not completely collapsed. Wanting to know if the hedgehog could hear him, he reached out and tapped his shoulder once more. "Sonic?"

Upon feeling Lucas's hand, the hedgehog's ears shot up with sudden alertness. "Back…" Sonic murmured, voice low and shaky, eyes still squeezed shut. "Get back…"

Lucas staggered back in the sand as though he had been burned, eager to do whatever would help most, even if that was nothing at all. He found himself on his bottom, twenty feet away, gazing across the short expanse that was suddenly between them.

Then Sonic's eyes opened, pupils small and surrounded by irises of vivid orange-red.

Lucas barely had a split second to process it before a radius of gold rolled out from Sonic like whiplash, lighting up the night with its vibrant splendor and making Lucas draw a sharp breath. He closed his eyes reflexively without realizing it and felt his hair blow back; when he opened them again, Sonic was rising to his feet. His aura was dim and flickering… but getting stronger. He watched it come back to life with silent awe, as if he was watching Sonic himself come back to life. The aura was a direct message of the hedgehog's very state.

Sonic drifted up into the air, everything about his demeanor speaking of control regained. The Chaos energy was no longer roaming lost in a sea of semi-consciousness. Somehow, the two had built each other back up from within – Sonic refocusing the Chaos energy and the Chaos energy refocusing Sonic – until he was finally able to let it coat him again.

"Gosh," Sonic muttered, then gestured to himself with an embarrassed smile; "what a slowpoke."

Lucas swallowed hard, and then managed to smile himself. "You? Slowpoke?" He nodded his head once in the direction of Imposter. "Well… go make up for it, then, Sonic."

Sonic gave him a thumbs-up and nodded. "Get Espio. Tell him to contact Tails and Amy and get them out of the sky." A confident smile touched his golden face. He didn't exactly have a great reason to be confident… but then again, he didn't need one. "I'll take it from here. And Lucas…" Sonic came near, then pointed to the man's chest. "Chaos power is enriched by the heart. And not only mine. Thank you." His fiery gaze flitted over to where the others were still fighting for him. "And them. You guys made this work again."

"You made it work at all," Lucas said, referring to far more than the Chaos ordeal they had just overcome. "But we'll argue over who gets the credit later. I want to see us win." _I want to see you win._

Sonic grinned with firm resolve now, and shot off. He was a gold streak slicing the foggy sky, a light in the darkness.

Transcending the very doubt that had plagued him before, Sonic realized he felt no reluctance now. The promise of freedom and peace was worth fighting for, and fear was a small price to pay by comparison.

And how it would feel to win – to know that he could do this after all.

When he caught up to the ensuing battle above the sea, he noticed immediately that there was smoke coming from the Tornado. At first he panicked, then took a closer look and saw that it was only because of the plane's very exertion; it was beginning to overheat. It made sense with how much they had used it in the past few days, and especially now since it was stuffed to the brim with the energy of three Chaos Emeralds.

Sonic nodded firmly at Tails and Amy as they passed each other, trading off. The former's eyes locked onto his with unspoken hope and relief. "I was with you. We all were."

"I know."

With no time to waste, the super-powered hedgehog went beyond them and readied himself.

As soon as Imposter so much as looked at him, Sonic bolted like lightning, pouring almost all of his Chaos energy into sheer speed. He had a lot of speed innately as it was – piled with his powers, it would be devastating. No sooner had he broken the sound barrier that he was far enough to barely hear it.

He didn't have the power Imposter had. Probably not anywhere close if that head strike had been anything to go by. But speed was a kind of power in itself. Inertia made up for the brute strength he didn't have. He arced around and plowed into Imposter with enough force to carry them back to the shore again.

It wasn't intentional on Sonic's part but they were going right at the large crowd of former-prisoners that had gathered to watch. Luck alone saved anyone from getting hit. Dozens scrambled aside, even though their reaction was late compared to Sonic and Imposter's speed. They finally struck ground and sand exploded everywhere, raining back down on them and everyone around them.

Since the fake guardian had been the one caught off guard this time, Sonic recovered first and made to carry the fight further away from the people without bringing it back toward the water. Scared or not, water stunted his speed and left him at a disadvantage.

Relentlessly he rammed himself into the huge echidna again, gold and violet glows searing together, and somehow was able to grab Imposter under his bulky arms. He managed to get a few hundred feet, putting a small cushion of distance between them and the people, leaving screams of surprise and cheers of encouragement in their wake.

Then Imposter got ahold of himself again and grasped Sonic's arms before the hedgehog could let go and get away. While they were locked together, he flipped over in the air and threw himself into the sand with Sonic beneath him.

Sonic had braced for it. His aura gleamed brighter as though it was a shield, protecting him from the full impact as Imposter mauled him.

He felt the tingling heat of his focused energy more than he even felt the attack raining on him. It was like a thick blanket surrounding him, protecting him from the coldness that was Imposter, absorbing the clawing and punching and even the weight of the monster's large body.

Positive energy was overcoming negative despite how much weaker he was.

It would only be brief, Sonic knew. Imposter was too ridiculously strong for Sonic's marginal benefit to last. Either way, he was grateful for the small chance. It wasn't often he had been cut any slack lately, and now he needed it more than ever.

Imposter's movements were like slow-motion to his fast reflexes. When both huge arms were pulled back, Sonic pushed himself away, getting out from underneath him.

For the first time, Imposter lost his condescending attitude and roared in rage. The screech of pure negative Chaos energy. It sent an icy shiver up the back of Sonic's arms until it met his neck.

Despite it, the hedgehog's face slowly twisted into a daring grin. "Did I get under your skin, buddy?"

Looking on ahead, he suddenly remembered he might be getting too close to the Master Emerald. He was going further inland, the direction Knuckles had to have taken it. For a split second he wanted to keep going and try to draw on its power again. But with Imposter right on his tail, and more than strong enough already, he knew he couldn't. Even if it meant _losing _this battle, Imposter could not be allowed to get any stronger.

He swerved back to fly parallel to the ocean. In the maneuver, he looked over his shoulder to see how close Imposter was.

Of all the things he had learned from fighting, not to look over your shoulder while being chased wasn't one of them. Normally he was so fast that he could afford it. But this time it was a mistake. The glance took the slightest amount from his acceleration and right then, the twisted nightmare of an echidna caught up to him.

He felt one huge hand latch around his ankle and spin him round. Then it was gone and he was plowing through the air, this time not of his own accord.

By the time he got himself upright again, Imposter was right there, pushing him down into the water that was suddenly below.

He tried to resist it and regain control of the fight again. But the water slowed his strikes, letting Imposter block them all. Not knowing what else to do, he resorted to defending himself. Even that was almost useless in the midst of what was happening. There was nothing to defend. Imposter wasn't trying to land a hit. He was simply gripping Sonic tightly and taking them both further down.

Despite the blurriness that became his world, what he had to do suddenly became very clear, in stark context right before him. His attacks weren't working. It was the only way.

He couldn't hold his breath forever. But neither could Imposter.

_Don't be scared… not anymore… _

Imposter kept driving him downward, into the depths of the ocean. With hands still free, Sonic reached up and grasped the echidna hard around the throat… while the same was done to him.

And he squeezed.

_Not anymore…_

They were so equally matched in defense and resilience, even if Imposter had more strength. Neither would be able to defeat the other through blows alone. The Master Emerald's energy was too strong in both of them. Especially Imposter.

So it had to end soon.

Positive Chaos energy was known to be stronger than negative, but the _amount _of energy in the hedgehog's system was far out-matched. It wasn't enough. That much had become clear already.

He had to be his own energy…

Sonic locked his throat, determined to hold his breath despite that he couldn't breathe anyway. He dug his thumbs into the hollow of Imposter's neck as hard as he could, pressing in his windpipe. The force of his grip was making his fingertips go numb, but he didn't care.

He felt suffocated as Imposter squeezed back. But only physically. For some reason that he couldn't even place, he didn't panic. Maybe it was sheer need. If he panicked, he could not do what he needed to do to end the oppression, suffering and destruction once and for all.

Or maybe need wasn't the only reason. Maybe it was that he already knew he would die too.

They descended at frightening speeds through the water. It would have been black around them if not for their respective auras… golden and purple light slicing through the dark depths sharply, like weapons…

Not for the first time, Sonic became very aware that his system needed more Chaos energy. It was a need he could not even hope to satisfy.

Just as the thought crossed his mind, his golden color diminished ever so slightly. Not for the same reason as before, but because he truly was running out of Chaos energy this time.

Imposter's eyes were closing. His grip was slackening. Sonic's neck ached and he felt his throat unblock. He kept holding his breath… but Chaos energy wasn't the only thing he was almost out of.

Then it was over. Just like that. No dramatic last effort. Imposter released him completely and went flaccid. They stopped descending.

For a long moment, Sonic could only stare as Imposter's dark glow dissipated and the tangled mess of negative energy abandoned him. What it left behind was something closer to his regular, red echidna form. He looked beaten up beyond repair, far more from the ultimate effect of Eggman's force-fed Chaos energy than from Sonic. Though at the same time, he looked oddly guiltless in death. Like a victim.

Like the victim he really was.

Something tightened around Sonic's stomach as he realized he had just ended the life of a living being. Imposter had been created, not born, but it made no difference to him how the individual had been conceived. Shadow had been created too, and not for one second had Sonic seen him as anything less than a person.

Imposter had been a person too. One created with a false free will.

Imposter was not defeated or destroyed, like some robot.

He was dead.

The bubbles from Imposter's last exhale drifted upward through the water nonchalantly, indifferently. As Sonic started moving upward too, past them and toward the surface, one thought settled firmly in the forefront of his mind for a time.

_I'm sorry._

He could not see the moon or stars from beneath the water. It was too far below. Everything was black, and silent.

He was alone.

His heart ached as much as his seeking lungs as he struggled towards the surface, wanting nothing more than to get out of the water and see his friends again. To see the people he had fought for, and who had fought for him in return. To have the freedom he had been after for three long months. To relish it and cherish it and smile and laugh and _run…_

To be alive to be able to say he had done it.

He had truly confronted his fears – not just tolerated them or survived them as he had in so many times now gone. The nightmare he'd had what seemed like ages ago now, getting stuck at the edge of the river while Eggman destroyed a town – it would never come to pass. Fear didn't have to stop him anymore. Even if he couldn't stop fear either.

He had won.

But the surface was taking way too long to get closer, and living was a different thing than winning.

Part of him thought that maybe Tails would fly out and find him. Or that Knuckles, as great of a swimmer as he was, would somehow be able to reach him. But he was so deep. Neither of them – _none _of them – would be able to _see _him, much less reach him. And for all he knew, Knuckles was still gone, taking the Master Emerald to safety…

There was no need anymore. Imposter wouldn't be drawing on the Master Emerald again. Ever.

_And it looks like neither will I…_

He was happy he had stopped Imposter. Happy beyond measure that things were going to be okay for everyone now. But somehow that wasn't enough. He couldn't just die easily, even if his mission had been accomplished. He didn't want this to be the end. Everyone else was going to get to live free again, and he wanted to live free, too…

Ever since he first rebelled, he had almost always seen himself as free. Just as he had said even recently, he was free on the inside. He had done what he would always have chosen at the end of the day anyway.

But now that that was over, now that he had achieved that goal, his definition of freedom now would be to see the sky again, see his friends again, take a run _without _destination again…

Still, if this was his time… it was the way he always wanted to go. Fighting for a world he believed in – a world he had come to believe in even more over the last few months. A world that had shown they believed in him, too.

_Thank you, guys._

His vision began to blur with faintness as his body cried for oxygen it couldn't have, lungs hollow and empty. His ears rang. He felt himself slipping from consciousness once again, mind tightening with achy dizziness. But he was too tired to panic, and it took him with fast finality. Everything went black in its wake.

Everything. His aura faded away and his fur was completely blue again, leaving him in absolute darkness as he floated limply upwards.

He still couldn't see the surface. Emerald eyes finally fell shut.

xxx

_I'll never give up. –Sonic, Sonic Adventure_

xxx

One more chapter and an epilogue. Thanks for reading, guys; see you next week.


	43. Chapter 42: The Darkest Part of Night

Randomsonicfreak: I always love hearing something like that – it's what I aim for, as I really enjoy typing Sonic's character. And absolutely, what matters is on the inside. I'm glad the chapter touched you and I hope you like what remains of the story. Thanks a lot for letting me know what ya thought! :)

DanceDream: Heh, funny you should point that out – there's other games that supposedly chronologically follow this story, so Sonic _has _to live, right? Well, I _have _killed off characters before in a story that happened before certain games… sooo… *shot* I dunno. The chapter knows though. o_o But yeah, thanks for sharing your thoughts! That scene with Sonic and Lucas was probably my favorite part of the chapter so I'm happy you thought of it highly. I'd say Lucas was lucky, I'd have liked to have been there for that too. :) Anyway… hope you enjoy (?) the update!

x

I meant to point this out last time, but **Speedy1236** has done a lovely piece of art based on a moment in the the battle that just happened in the last few chapters. It's really cool and you guys should look at it. Link's on my profile. :)

Well, I won't keep this waiting any longer. Just got this chapter and then a quick epilogue left. On we go!

CHAPTER 42: THE DARKEST PART OF NIGHT

It was dark outside that night.

"Knuckles – wh-where is Knuckles?"

"He took the Master Emerald away to keep it from Imposter, remember? He will be back any moment now. Tails, you must listen to me…"

"I couldn't find him, Espio! I couldn't find Sonic! I flew out over the water and I couldn't see him, but I want to try again if we can get Knuckles back here – he's the only one who can swim against those waves, Espio! And Sonic hasn't been above the water in way too long… I'll go in the water myself if it'll help find him!"

"Me too, Espio!"

"No you won't. Neither of you. Tails, Amy, everyone – Knuckles will be back soon. Until then we can take the plane and continue to search the waters from above. Even _Knuckles _will have a hard time fighting those waves. Any of us throwing ourselves into that would be inviting death."

"If you're going to follow that logic," Lucas cut in bitterly, "Sonic's _already _inviting death!"

"Lucas—"

"Don't 'Lucas' me, Espio. I haven't seen his or Imposter's glow in five minutes. Chaos energy or not, no one can hold their breath forever. Sonic's probably drowning out there and I'll be damned if I'm going to just stand here and let that happen to _him_."

"L-Lucas, please…" Amber said, voice a mixture of desperation and support. "If you won't listen to Espio, listen to me… Sonic wouldn't want you to go in the water after him, not when it's so violent… He never wanted you involved, for your own sake…"

"And we wanted _him _involved? We wanted him to get himself hurt? I don't think so. Didn't stop him. If he'd have listened to _half_ our warnings in Meka Tower we'd all be under Eggman's control or worse. Come on, Amber, be real."

"I just don't want to lose you both…"

"_Guys!_" Tails shouted. "Knuckles is back! Knuckles, you have to help us – Sonic's in the water—"

"I heard you as I was approaching," the echidna informed him. "Espio is right. Those waves are too strong right now to swim in with this wind, and if not that, to see through. We can try searching from above, and if we somehow can actually find him, I will try to get him out. But I'm not going to dive into the water right now just because you think it will help. Without the glow of their Chaos energy, we won't find them that way."

Amy was enraged. "That wouldn't stop Sonic! He would—"

"Throw himself out there anyway, try to save lives, get himself killed? He's just done that. Sonic has his way of doing things and I respect that, but _I am not Sonic!_ We will _not _find him, and if we did he would already be dead by the time we could reach him and get back to shore! And I am _not_ going to let myself or anyone else drown in that chaos over reckless decision making, to find a _body._ In these winds, even taking the Tornado is a huge risk!" His voice locked up momentarily. "We shouldn't kid ourselves. He's gone."

"Just look at those waves," Espio said bleakly. And everyone fell dismally quiet as the undeniable reality set in.

"Tails…" Amy pushed out in a watery voice, knowing Knuckles and Espio were right and suddenly needing the person who had been there for her all along.

"B-but… but I…" the fox stammered, as if to protest the validation of Amy's devastation. He was unable to provide any consolation. He stared blankly at Espio and Knuckles, trying to keep talking even though he knew his argument had been stunted – and even though he knew the Tornado would not help them find the blue blur at this point. "But I told Sonic I'd be with him u-until the end, that I'd try to protect him… I told him I would… I told him…"

"The dream?" Amy asked quietly, tears streaming down her face. "Oh Tails… that was just a nightmare you had that night. Sonic… Sonic wouldn't expect that of you. _No _one would. He would only ever expect that of… of himself."

"It wasn't just a nightmare. I promised myself I'd always, always do whatever it took to help him, like he always did for me. When we first talked again we said we'd always be w-with each other even if… even if we weren't."

Espio sighed, not in fatigue or irritation, but in quiet defeat. "Then be with him in spirit. Like you promised. That's all any of us can do now. We haven't seen his glow in too long." He closed his eyes. "This battle has been won, and for however ridiculous it is to say something so tired: that is what that hedgehog wanted more than anything. Freedom for everyone has been restored… for a price he was ready to pay. He was always ready."

"No… no, no, no, don't say that! Don't say that!" Tails begged, his voice a mess of stammers and sobs. Gripped in irrational desperation, he made for the water, but Knuckles grabbed his shoulder before he could get more than a few steps. It didn't take any more force than that to stop him, for somewhere inside Tails already knew how hopeless it was to try. While Knuckles's firm hand still held his shoulder, he stood there in a cold daze with tears rolling from his cheeks. "No. _No! _He's not…! He _can't_ be…"

Tails trailed off and stared into the ground. Amy's face crumpled as hope deserted her at the same time. She shook her head back and forth, back and forth, over and over again, eyes wide in horrific disbelief.

Behind the group of distraught friends, hundreds of those free people Espio had just spoken of, many from the top floor, watched on in silent respect and mutual shock. Some raised one hand to the sky in salute. They could not see their hero… their shield. Nor could he see them. The gesture of quietness and sincerity was all they could give.

"But… but what are we supposed to do now? No S-Sonic…?" Tails leaned into Espio, helpless, while Lucas and Amber held each other in consolation a few feet away. Amy sunk to her hands and knees in the sand, choking on breathy and distraught cries. Knuckles looked out over the water grimly. "Wh-what do we do now?"

xxx

It was dark outside that night.

Black. Silent. Eerie. Like day had never existed. That was what it seemed like.

Like freedom had never existed at all. Even though it had just recently been restored.

The only sound was the wind. That, and the deadly water thrashing and swishing about as a result.

But it was always darkest before dawn.

Despite the gripping, black night, nothing could compare to the swirling void behind his eyelids. There was pressure everywhere. Outside and in. Everything he felt was vague, and heavy, and dreadful.

Until he realized the irony in the fact that he was feeling anything at all.

His first thought was to force his eyes open. For some reason the idea scared him. Did he have eyes? Was he alive? What was going on? Could he escape this hell if he just kept his eyes closed?

But… no. He had to escape. Had to try. That heavy wind was blowing against his skin. That was good… wasn't it? He couldn't remember the significance of that environmental cue...

He was heaving. As if something was stuck inside him, trying to work its way out so he could be comfortable again… He had to breathe…

Breathe. He latched onto the word, tried to grasp the concept. _Breathe._ He was supposed to inhale and exhale past whatever was obstructing him…

Water. He had been in water. That was why he wanted to escape. Right? That was why the wind felt so heavenly right now…

His coughing began to subside.

Cautiously, he eased his eyes open, daring to see whatever lied ahead of him in the visual world.

And suddenly, he felt alive.

Everything came into context. What had occurred, what he had done, where he was, the people he had just heard – his friends talking about him – it was all there.

But they hadn't noticed him yet. He had just been taken out of the water and was far away yet, and nighttime was in full swing. It was still foggy. They couldn't see him from there.

If Tails had just flown out over the water one more time, he would have seen. Because right now, he was suspended above the water, drifting ever so slowly toward them.

_Wait._

Regaining his bearings, he looked all about himself, trying to solve the suddenly obvious mystery: _how?_

Chao. Everywhere.

"Wh-what? Kai…?"

Kai, holding his left hand, beamed up at him. He looked more genuinely happy than Sonic could ever recall seeing him.

Dozens of other chao were at his various body parts. Some at his ears, one at each spike, his tail, his arms, his legs, his chest, his feet… They were supporting his weight just as the Chaos energy had done, taking him carefully back to the shore.

"H-hey," he said, feeling reality settle within him, and smiled. "Looks like… looks like I m-made it, huh, lil' guy?"

Kai, along with a few other chao who had understood his mumbling, nodded eagerly.

Chao. Of course. Those creatures grew up around water, thrived in it. Who else would be able to save him but them?

"An'… an' you guys made it too. I… I saw you all in the tower not long ago, right?" He remembered checking up on the chao in Meka Tower. He had mentioned that the ocean was nearby in front of Kai, while reminding Lucas that chao needed to live near water. At the time he had thought nothing of it. Now he realized that Kai had taken note of it. "You all… you all okay?"

More nods, and a few murmurs of acknowledgement or appreciation. Kai met his eyes and gestured to the shore. They had broken through enough of the fog to see it.

He remembered Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Espio, Lucas and Amber being there. But he did not remember the hundreds of people he saw now. They were all staring out at the water quietly, horrorstricken. He realized with a start that they saw him. All of them saw him, his friends included. He was close enough now…

But they were all so still and dismal. Why?

Amy was on her knees sobbing, sand getting in her rose fur. Knuckles stood like a pillar a few feet away, eyes closed. Espio had a comforting arm around Tails's shoulders while the fox fought a sudden onslaught of tears. Amber was approaching Amy with timid sorrow, wanting to provide comfort and perhaps seek some herself. Lucas had unashamed streaks of wet down his face. They were all looking at him.

Then he realized.

They couldn't tell if he was alive or if the chao had just found his body.

Immediately, Sonic lifted one hand, startling a few chao that were holding up that part of him, and waved obnoxiously. "Hey folks!"

There was an instant of stunned silence. Then a roar of cheering filled the midnight atmosphere. He couldn't say it was like nothing he had ever heard before. He _had _heard it before. Faith. Triumph. For him.

For freedom. For hope.

It was such a warm, familiar sound. It utterly liberated him. He had always known it would be worth it. Now he felt it.

"_Sonic!_" Tails bounded into the air and flew out over the water to meet him. "Oh Sonic! I… I thought you were… I tried to find you, and I couldn't see anything…" he paused, rendered incapable of continuing for a moment as he wiped furiously at his eyes. "I thought you went down and were never going to come back up."

Sonic blinked, then gestured to his surroundings with his eyes. "I'm back up!"

"Yeah, you are! And you _did it!_ You really did it, Sonic!"

"We all did it," Sonic said with a smile.

They met the land, and the chao deposited him gently in the sand. He fell to his hands and knees, exhausted, momentarily unable to carry his weight by himself. The sand clung to his wet fur. It didn't bother him any; it was soft and warm.

…And land-y.

The crowd lingered back, none of them stirring, knowing the sensitivity of what was happening and giving the heroes space.

"Boy," the hedgehog said, glancing up at Kai still hovering nearby. "You're getting really good at saving my life."

"Sonic…" Amber breathed. She was nearest to him, and crouched down at his side and put a hand on his back. "I'm so glad you're alive. This is the second time you've made me think you were dead."

"Same reason both times, too," the hedgehog muttered. "That's gotta give me a little justification here."

"Well," Knuckles chimed in, his voice a bit too cheerful, "Sonic's right when he says he fails at water."

"Knuckles!" shouted Amy, glaring. The echidna put his hands out defensively.

"Kidding. Don't look at me like he wouldn't make a remark like that if the situation was reversed. Besides, last time I checked Sonic was an advocate of humor."

"Heh, preferably when you're on the receiving end of it, Knux," the hedgehog said lightly, pushing himself back up a little unsteadily and brushing sand away.

"Now that everything is okay, I should make my way back to the agency," Espio announced. "I apologize for being so abrupt, but Vector and Charmy contacted me not long ago while we were in battle and I wasn't able to respond because the communicator finally ran out of battery right then." He gestured to said communicator. It had lasted weeks in Meka Tower and even some time after their escape, to his astonishment. "They will want to know I'm well, and quite frankly I'd like to make sure they're well too. Tails, Amy… it's been a pleasure working with you. Take care of yourselves."

"You too!" the two said simultaneously. Tails walked up to him. "Let me know if you ever want help with anything, okay?"

"Likewise," the chameleon said with a nod to his young ally. Then he turned to Sonic, and the two shook hands briefly. "I am glad that you survived. Don't stay out of trouble for too long," he said with the subtlest touch of humor, then turned to walk away.

"Oh, don't you worry," Sonic said with a smirk, "I don't plan on it."

"Knuckles!" Amber said suddenly, as though she had just remembered something. "There's people who got hurt fighting androids earlier. People who are sick from dehydration and other things. I can help heal them. I… I can help keep anyone else from suffering or dying from this mess."

Sonic paused at the implications of Amber's last statement. He had forgotten for a moment that Amber and Amy had spent some time helping the former prisoners while he was up on the Egg Carrier 2. "Anyone _else?_" He repeated. "So… there were people who didn't make it?"

"There was a handful," Amber said sadly. "It is pretty warm out here, too warm for some people… especially those who had been starved on the tower's lower levels. They were weak, and…" She cut off. "I know it's horrible that anyone was lost, but it wasn't a majority, Sonic. There are so many people still alive. A lot are struggling, though…"

"Where are they?" Knuckles asked.

"We tried to round up all the injured or ill in one place… come with me, I'll show you."

"O-okay," the echidna stammered. He glanced back at Sonic. "You should bring the remaining Chaos Emeralds to Angel Island later. I'm going to scatter them. It's dangerous if more than one is in the same place, now that we don't need them."

"The remaining ones?" Lucas repeated. "What do you mean?"

"Only three will have scattered, because Imposter absorbed their energy reserves almost entirely. The other four weren't involved as much and still have energy. Tails, you have three, right? And Eggman has the other one. I'll get it from him."

"Okay," Sonic, Tails and Lucas said at once, then laughed. The former looked at Knuckles again and nodded. "Angel Island… what, tomorrow night? So you have plenty of time to get Eggman's Chaos Emerald and to help heal people?"

The echidna nodded back. "See you there," he said, and started off in the opposite direction Espio had gone, gesturing for Amber to come with him. She ignored him momentarily and gazed at Sonic for a long moment, smiling her goodbye, and finally gave him a thumbs-up. Sonic beamed at her and returned it.

"See you around, Amber."

"Goodbye, Sonic. Thank you." Her voice was shaky, overcome with all kinds of happiness and sadness. "Thank you, from me, and on behalf of all the people we're about to go heal, too. They're so grateful for everything you've done, I just know it. You truly were… a shield. For everyone you fought for. And you were a friend to me when I thought I was alone." She held his gaze with her amber eyes. "We all love you, Sonic."

"Hey, speak for yourself," Lucas muttered playfully, approaching the two of them. "No, she's right, Sonic. It's been cool. Can't believe you've reduced me to mush enough for me to say this, but I'm gonna miss you. I'm…" he cut off, letting a humbled, sincere silence touch the atmosphere while he swallowed. "I'm _really _gonna miss you."

Sonic strode forward and held out a hand.

For a second, Lucas looked like he might extend his own hand to shake it. Then he slapped it out of the way with a chuckle, dropped to one knee, and pulled the unsuspecting hedgehog into a firm hug.

"Hey, don't miss me _too _much. After all, you're not even that far away. Across from the Chaotix Detective Agency, right?"

Lucas smiled an unseen smile with their embrace, touched. "You remembered that, did ya?"

"I'll never forget the talk we had that night. You helped me get back on my feet. And… well, I don't tend to forget my friends," Sonic smiled a little self-consciously, "even if it looks like I do sometimes."

"Sonic?" Amber said tentatively as he and Lucas separated. He turned to look at her. "Me too?"

Sonic spread his arms. "Heh, of course!"

They embraced each other, tenderly and wholeheartedly. Then, after one last look, Amber made to follow the echidna guardian so they could heal their comrades. She didn't turn back.

There was one more individual who hadn't yet said their goodbye. Kai, standing quietly in the sand, looked back and forth between the remaining members of the group.

Lucas was, fittingly, the nearest to him. He looked down at the chao for a fraction of a moment, hesitating, and then shrugged one shoulder in resigned happiness. "Comin' home, bud?"

With a tearful nod, the chao hovered up and tucked himself in the crook of Lucas's readied arm. They both knew he belonged there. He had never seen Kai happier.

Amy reached out to both sides and gently took the hands of Sonic and Lucas. They both held hers back, and Sonic reached over to grab Tails's too, winking at his dear younger brother briefly before turning his gaze forward again. Together the group watched their friends and comrades go. It was a temporary goodbye, but the closure granted to the situation in those moments was final. The memories of all that had happened in the last three months were just that – memories of the past – and no longer the journey of the present. It was over. And now in their midst was a period of brief reflection, cherished closeness, and perhaps even unspoken healing. Laying to rest the bad, and – quite literally – holding on tight to the good that had come of their adventure. All the while they stood in that connected line, comfortable as family.

In some ways, they were.

xxx

_Any time you want a rematch, just let me know. I'll be waiting. –Sonic, Sonic Heroes_

xxx

Well guys, the story is essentially over. I'll save my final comments for the epilogue, but there is one thing I just gotta ask right now.

…Favorite parts? Chapters, scenes, moments? I'm dying to know what parts people liked most about this story, and why. It's really a treat to be able to get a glimpse of your own work through other people's eyes, you know? And thanks to your wonderful support and feedback, I've had the fortune of being able to do just that quite a bit. But yeah… just wondering. :)

See ya next time.


	44. Epilogue

Guess it's about time I put this up, huh?

Well guys, this monster of a story is complete. I've enjoyed it more than words can say, and I'm honored so many of you have enjoyed it too. It's probably blatantly obvious that this is a story about freedom vs. oppression. Beyond that, it's also an emphasis of hope and courage in the face of difficulty, friendship, facing one's own fears and flaws (or perhaps accepting them as they are), and the value of life, no matter your circumstances… because while circumstances are a part of your life, your life is not your circumstances alone. Life is not just a template. Your life is you, and your convictions and beliefs, and the people there with you. And not all circumstances are unchangeable… some of them, you're capable of creating yourself. Just like Sonic, Lucas, Tails and the rest. :)

Perhaps above all, behind the (not-so-)subtle messages interwoven in this, Survivor's Resolve is about the actual characters and their journey. I learn something new about each one of them every time I type, and oftentimes, I learn a little about myself through them too. I love the Sonic universe and its characters and the creative inspiration it sparked in my mind.

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who read this. And to those reading this weeks or years down the road, thanks to you, too. Doesn't matter how much time has passed or what else I'm writing, this story will always be kinda special to me and someone out there's reading this ages later, it'd still make my day to hear what you think.

There are few short stories (much, much shorter stories) in the works that are in the SR canon, meant to tie up some loose threads that you may or may not have noticed. One is about the two most crucial characters in this plot – Sonic and Eggman – and the latter's struggle with his overexposure to negative Chaos energy. The other regards something very big about Sonic – a question left unspoken throughout this entire story but one that more than warrants an answer. ;) Beyond that, I think most of my stories from this point will in fact settle in to the same general area of the game-verse that SR took place in, and take advantage of the character development and opportunities that leaves behind. I'd love if you joined me – along with Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Lucas, Amber, and Kai.

For now, look out for a title called 'Red Mirror' and another tentatively called 'In the Making.' Add me to your author alerts to get notified!

Outside of that, I'm working on some original stuff too, so bear with me if I take little breaks.

…We all have our Meka Towers to deal with, things that oppress us, hold us back, make us frustrated or afraid. But we can embrace our circumstances and make the most of them, even if we can't always change them or avoid them. At the end of the day… you can choose to be free.

~DC

EPILOGUE: And the world keeps on turning…

Knuckles couldn't be happier.

For the first time in many months, he sat down on the top step of the Master Emerald's shrine, the soft green glow of the magical gem casting its gaze over everything. In one hand he held the red Chaos Emerald; the only one Eggman had had left, the one Imposter hadn't used.

He had wondered why Eggman hadn't given Imposter that gem, for a time. But then he had come to the conclusion that he didn't need to understand everything. Perhaps that was the way it was supposed to be. He had always been happier when he knew less. More content. After all, his duty was right here on this floating island. More often than not he didn't even have the opportunity to know what was going on in the world below anyway. He was certain that anonymous catastrophic events would take place while he resided at the shrine, oblivious and ignorant to it all. And he was okay with that.

It wasn't really a duty to him, not anymore. It was, in fact, a purpose. _His _purpose.

He didn't need Sonic's excessive freedom. He didn't need what anyone else had. He didn't even want it. He had what he wanted. Fighting Imposter – valiantly defending the Master Emerald for the sake of himself and everyone who would have suffered if he hadn't – had taught him that. Someone out there would envy him the same way he had secretly envied Sonic for so long, wishing they could serve some kind of nobler purpose, not even seeing the opportunities right there in front of them.

Sometimes it took enduring a struggle to realize what was possible, and see the opportunities and reasons that had been there all along. That was one thing upon which he and Sonic would be able to relate now.

Knuckles laid back, closing his eyes and playing with a stray piece of grass that had made it up the stairs with him. The Master Emerald continued to light the night with its consistent glow, giving Angel Island the same green vibrancy it held during the day.

At last, all was peaceful, serene.

…Or, it was, until a huge gust of wind rustled everything, tearing the piece of grass from his hand in the process and sending half of his dreadlocks flopping over into his face.

"Sonic," Knuckles said simply, his fondness disguised as annoyance.

"Hey, Knux. Ooh, er, sorry 'bout that. Not my intention."

"Oh, shut up. You're not sorry. It'd be weird if you were." Knuckles righted his dreadlocks, sat up, and smiled ever so slightly at the hedgehog. "You brought the Chaos Emeralds?"

"Wouldn't be here if I didn't." Sonic took out the three Chaos Emeralds and piled them into Knuckles's hands with the one he already had.

The echidna, still sitting down, and gave all four gems a push towards their superior. They drifted unnaturally through the air until they were lined up in a row in front of it, its power supporting their weight. "How'd you get up here, anyway?"

"The Tornado, silly. Tails is here too, waiting at the bottom of the steps. Said he'd hang back and wait for me."

"Right." He paused thoughtfully, deliberating about something. "Listen, I don't know if this is a good idea or not, but I'm going to throw it out there anyway. I think we should hang onto one of the Chaos Emeralds. Just one. It's dangerous for more than one to be in the same place with Eggman still alive and well, so originally I was just going to have the Master Emerald scatter them all. But they've all got to be _somewhere_, so I thought one might as well be with us. That way the next time Eggman turns up, we'll start with the advantage."

"Who's 'us?'"

Knuckles sighed. "Not me, as much as I'd like to say that. I don't want the Master Emerald and a Chaos Emerald in the same place either, especially since Eggman knows where Angel Island is. So, do you… think you could keep it safe?"

"Sure thing, Knuckles." He glanced at the Chaos Emeralds in question and nodded his head in the direction of the red one. "Good job, by the way! I see you managed to get a hold of Eggman's one."

"Of course. He handed it over willingly, believe it or not. Wanted nothing more to do with it. Or maybe nothing more to do with _us_." The guardian rose and walked closer to the vivid collection of gems. Sonic moseyed along behind him. "I think he knows he's finished for the moment. Serves him right, too. He got too far with things this time. We can't let him get cocky."

The hedgehog nodded in agreement. "That's right."

"Speaking of which…" Knuckles trailed off. Indeed, he didn't have to know everything… but Sonic was right here in front of him. It was worth asking, right?

"What up, Knux?" Sonic had a perplexed look on his face.

"It's just always struck me as peculiar that Eggman had four Chaos Emeralds, but only ever used the power of three of them for Imposter. I never saw this one. I mean, I know he was recycling their power so Imposter was nearly invincible anyway, but still. He had four Chaos Emeralds. Why not use them all?"

Sonic looked baffled for a brief moment, looking at the echidna's face as though he might find an answer there. Then subtle clarity broke through his expression. "Eggman did use the other one," he said with slow realization, "because he needed Chaos energy to influence the chao he captured. That's why Kai was so strong."

"That's reason enough for him to not use it on a _life-form he created?_" Knuckles asked. "Chao? Come on."

"Well, I wasn't done yet. I was going to say that he also used it – or at least intended to use it – because that was the one he was going to use to start overtaking the people in Meka Tower… if he got that far."

Knuckles gave him a sidelong glance. "How do you know? I thought that's what he had Chaos Drives for. I thought… I mean, his experiments… I thought he only had…"

The blue blur's eyes settled on the red Chaos Emerald, then flitted back to Knuckles, realizing for the first time that no one but those on the top floor had known of Eggman's possession of that particular gem. No one had fully realized just how irrevocable his control could have been. An Emerald was stronger than any Drive.

"Trust me," Sonic finally murmured, "I know."

The echidna looked at him for a moment, then abandoned the subject. Maybe, he mused, it was something that was only part of Sonic's story, just as the echidna's realizations about his own purpose were for him only. After all, despite the hedgehog's _past_ being a mystery, it wasn't very often _now_ that Sonic got to keep anything to himself anymore, even if he wanted to. He was at the center of things so much that everyone knew everything he was up to. The guardian wasn't exempt from that either; he knew more about Sonic than he felt he had a right to after what had happened… really, not all that long ago.

"Okay, hedgehog," he said after a minute. "Why don't you take it, then, if you're going to take one. It's got more power left than the rest, since it was never used for its full intention."

"Fair enough."

"All right then." Knuckles watched Sonic step forward take the gem out of its place in the air. "Now that that's established, it's time for all the troublemakers to get out of here. Oh, and I'm not just referring to the other Emeralds."

"The _other _Emeralds? This one's more of a troublemaker than any of 'em!"

"Then it's a perfect fit for you."

Sonic laughed. "Whatever you say, guardian. I'll leave you to your business then. Probably takes a lot of focus, and stuff. But, y' know, keep in touch now and then if you want. I'll be around."

"And I'll be… here," Knuckles said, gesturing to the shrine. "You always know where you can find me. And Sonic... that was a pretty great win yesterday. Yesterday, and all throughout. Even I have to give you that much."

"Well thanks, Knuckster. Hey, you weren't bad either. Held Imposter back for a long time. I don't want to know what would have happened if you hadn't been able to do that. And you made it through being trapped in Meka Tower too. Y' know, we've all done some pretty cool stuff lately. Y' know?"

"I guess we have, Sonic," the echidna said with casual smile. "But I'm more than content to not have to do any cool stuff for a while."

"Makes one of us. Well, I'll see you around, m'kay?"

Knuckles nodded, and turned away from him, towards the Master Emerald and three Chaos Emeralds. Sonic jogged down the stairs until he reached Tails, who was sitting on the bottom step, namesakes drifting back and forth casually. The fox hadn't heard him approach yet, so he quieted his last footsteps and then took hold of his friend around the middle and lifted him off the ground.

"_Ahh!_ Son_ic_—! You scared me!"

"Hahaha, I haven't been able to sneak up on you like that since you were little! That was priceless!"

"Yeah, well, you won't be able to get away with that for another few years again!" Tails said through stitches of laughter. "Put me down!"

Sonic did, grinning broadly. "What, does the timer reset when I do that or something? Another few years? Now I'm gonna have to prove you wrong!"

"Well next time you pick me up, I'll just start flying," the fox said cheerfully, grinning back. "Then you'll be the one scared."

"Scared? Please. I can hang onto you just fine without falling."

"…Over the ocean!"

"Ah haha, you're cute." Sonic gave his friend a playful shove and started heading back towards the Tornado. The fox quickly recovered and chased after him. The smiles lingered on both faces like a fresh scent in the atmosphere, even after they had walked on quietly for a few moments.

It was late at night again, perhaps almost dawn. The events of the last week had thrown their sleep schedules off immensely. Neither of them was tired, though. The fighting mindset was still there. It would be odd getting back into the normal swing of everyday life now that things had been different for so long. But it would be okay. It already was okay. And tomorrow was waiting for them.

A curved sliver of moon cut the dark sky, surrounded by specks of stars that were just barely visible through the thin layer of clouds. It was a view they hadn't appreciated quite as often in the midst of everything going on, but had the time and emotional capacity to appreciate now. Time passed in cozy silence as they continued walking, grass tickling their ankles when their shoes rustled through it.

Just a few paces before reaching the Tornado, Sonic began to slow. His steps became quieter and dragged slightly, as if he was suddenly hesitant.

"What's wrong?" Tails asked, and then they both stopped.

He shrugged. "Eh, it… it just occurred to me that Eggman could still use that fortress if he felt like it, since we pretty much left it alone after it was landed safely. We probably should have done something about that."

Tails walked around in front of Sonic, facing him with a confused smile. "Don't you ever want a break?"

"Who, me? I think I got enough of a break sitting around Meka Tower for almost three months, don't you?"

Still smiling a little, the fox shrugged.

"What?"

Tails merely shook his head. He realized Sonic would never see it the way anyone else saw it, would never pause long enough from his fast-paced life to consider the full meaning of the question and its implications, or to consider the real magnitude of what he had been through. And it wasn't even a conscious decision.

Many people would call that attitude a result of experience, Tails mused… but he would call it Sonic. The blue blur would always be on the move, would always have his eyes fixed on something, living for the good in front of him rather than the bad behind him. Wordlessly, Tails wrapped his friend in a hug, deciding at that moment that he would have it no other way.

"Er, what's this for?" Sonic asked, chuckling.

"More than you'll ever know," the fox replied as he pulled away, and he was sure he couldn't have said anything truer. "Let's get going, bro. I'm tired, and I know you have to be too."

Sonic nodded. "Okay."

The two friends got in the Tornado, Tails in the pilot's seat as always. The plane's engine whispered in the silence of the night as they took off, heading back toward the workshop.

They were just beginning to descend into the Mystic Ruins when the blue Chaos Emerald shot by directly overhead, slicing the sky in half with its trailing brightness as the Master Emerald's power sent it away.

Sonic grinned and hopped out on the wing.

"What are you doing?"

The plane descended low enough for the hedgehog to leap off safely, and leap he did. "See ya, Tails!" he called as he hit the ground and began to accelerate. "Curious if I can keep up with this thing! I'll be back later though; I promise this time!"

Tails just shook his head and smiled.

xxx

Sonic followed the Chaos Emerald's trajectory for an hour, letting it lead him through cities, forests, deserts, grasslands and almost every other type of environmental setting there was – every setting he had been missing out on lately. The cool night wind pulled relentlessly against him, trying to slow him down, but to no avail of course. He kept running, never letting the blue gem get too far ahead. His feet slammed on the ground and pushed it behind him, the force of his steps vibrating up the muscles in his legs.

Finally, in the middle of a lush green nowhere, he happened upon a large lake and came to a halt in the moist grass at its edge. The Chaos Emerald continued onward, indifferent to him, soaring like a firework, leaving sparks in its wake that replicated themselves in the shining liquid below. For a second, it seemed as though the whole world was coated in its vibrant light. The simple grandeur of it the world in his gaze reminded him of something Lucas had said what seemed like a lifetime ago.

_Just remember that there's still that huge world out there, and it hasn't stopped turning just because you're in here. And one day, you won't be in here anymore._

Despite how he had felt at the time, Sonic realized he would always remember that moment fondly.

As the clouds dissipated and gave way to moonlight, Sonic glanced at his blue reflection looking up at him from beneath the shimmering water, standing his ground while the waves licked the tips of his shoes. The quiet rush of nature filled his mind, and for a rare moment, nothing else in the world mattered.

He was free again. But then… he always had been.

The blue blur glanced up again and looked off at the sky in peaceful solitude, doing nothing more than existing. The Chaos Emerald continued to trace its azure streak across the dark sky, growing smaller and smaller in the distance until it was out of sight.

xxx

_"No matter what." –Sonic, Survivor's Resolve_

xxx

**A new day brings new adventure.**

**But for now…**

**Rest easy, heroes.**


	45. Brief note

Hey folks! I know it's been several months now, so I figured to stick a quick note here for anyone who would've wanted to know: Red Mirror is now up and running! It's the story I mentioned before, kind of an after-story to this one, but not quite a sequel as it's only a fraction of SR's size. A brief prologue and first chapter are up, so feel free to give it a look if you'd like! :)


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